Need to Sleep
by IheartSam7
Summary: I AM BACK! WOOHOO! I AM ENDING THS STORY! THANKS TO ALL WHO READ AND ENJOYED! IT WAS A GREAT EXPERIENCE :
1. Chapter 1 Start of the shift

It was hot. Well, at least Bosco thought it was.  
  
And he was tired, so tired that he let Faith drive.  
  
He couldn't keep his eyes open, his head kept falling to the window, eyes begging to be closed.   
  
Bosco couldn't understand it, he'd crashed as soon as he got home from the shift last night and slept until noon.  
  
Noon; 12 full hours of sleep... good, continuous, dead weight sleep with no dreams to remember.  
  
"Man Faith maybe I got too much sleep" he mumbled as they sat at a red light. "You know I read about that once, getting too much sleep actually can make you more tired."   
  
Faith just laughed, "Bos, it would take the next year of 12 hour nights of sleep before you or I could even begin to get caught up on sleep, let alone too much of it! Between you and your nightmares, me with the kids, and Fred, and all those women you romance all night long, its gonna be a really cold day in hell before we could claim too much sleep!"   
  
Bosco thought about this for a second before nodding a sleepy yes in her direction.  
  
"Yea right, like one good night would even make a difference. Maybe someone put a sleeping pill in my coffee at roll call or something. I'm not exactly the most liked guy around the house ya know."   
  
This made Faith laugh even harder, "Yea like someone at the house would even risk doing that to you. The fear of you finding out who did it should be enough to confirm that " 


	2. Chapter 2 Bosco falls asleep WHERE?

ch 2.  
  
The day was going by really slowly.   
  
Only two hours had gone by since their shift started and no calls had come through.  
  
The ride had been unusually quiet.  
  
Bosco had not complained to Faith once and she was starting to wonder about it.   
  
The silence was unnerving and Faith wasnt sure she could take much more of it.  
  
Hey do you want to break for dinner? Sully and Davis are at the deli around the corner. We could join them."  
  
No answer.  
  
"Bosco?"   
  
Faith looked over at him, only to see that he was completely fast asleep, head propped up by his hand, shoulder leaning, what looked to be not comfortably, against the car door.  
  
"Oh my gosh," Faith thought, "I cannot believe he is asleep on the job. No freakin' way."   
  
A smile spread across her face as she thought how peaceful Bosco looked when he was sleeping.  
  
Innocent.  
  
Like a little kid.  
  
A rare glimpse of the other side of Maurice Boscorelli, the one she knew, but not many others did.  
  
Even then, she had only seem him asleep once before, when he passed out in her car after a drinking session at his Ma's bar.   
  
This was a lot different.  
  
She reached out her hand and touched his cheek. It was warm but she thought nothing of it.   
  
"Bosco, hey sleeping beauty, time to wake up."  
  
His eyes opened instantly at her touch, startled back to reality. It took him a minute before he realized where he was.  
  
Bosco yawned and rubbed his eyes.  
  
"Faith? Wha...What is going on?"  
  
Faith smiled.   
  
"You my friend have just taken a comfy nap courtesy of the city of New York and this wonderful NYPD RMP we are in... so how does it feel?" she teased him.  
  
"Well to be honest I feel even more tired than before if thats even possible.  
  
Bosco rolled down the window.  
  
"Is it hot in here? Man why am i so freakin tired?" he said as he wiped a hand across his sweaty forehead.  
  
Bosco hoped the fresh air would help wake him up.   
  
As Faith puled up in front of the deli Bosco wondered what the hell his problem was today. 


	3. Chapter 3 Annoyed and Irritated

Chapter 3   
  
"Sully and Ty are inside, wanna get something to eat?"  
  
"Uh huh, yea sure thing Faith," Bosco said but he wasnt sure he was really all that hungry.   
  
"Maybe a couple good cups of caffeine will wake me up," he thought.  
  
As they got out of the car, Bosco noticed how heavy his body felt to him, almost swaying as he stood up.  
  
He shut the door and walked around to the other side of the RMP where Faith was calling in their dinner break to the station.  
  
They walked into the deli and saw that Sully and Ty were already sitting at the counter.  
  
"Mind if we join you?" Faith asked as she sat down.   
  
Bosco kept walking. "Hey order me a coke Faith, I'll be right back, I gotta hit the head", he said to her as he headed for the bathroom.   
  
Once inside Boso turned on the faucet and splashed sme cold water on his face.  
  
He felt dizzy.  
  
His stomach churned and for a minute he thought he was gonna get sick.  
  
"Hunger," he thought "I havent eaten yet today and its 530 already."  
  
  
  
He waited for a minute to regain his composure then went back out. "The last thing I need is Faith on my case he thought."  
  
Bosco sat down next to Faith, and sipped his coke.  
  
"Thanks" he said to her, "So what are you gonna order?"  
  
"Well, said Faith, No salad for me today I've been eating like a freakin rabbit all week and today I feel like a big, fat, juicy, greasy burger smothered in lots of grease and covered in cheese and ketchup."  
  
With every word she said Bosco found himself getting more and more nauseated.  
  
He curled his nose up into a ball the way he did when he was thoroughly disgusted or repulsed and looked at Faith.  
  
"Faith please, that is so nasty, do you have to describe it like that? "  
  
Faith, Ty and Sully all looked at him with puzzled faces.  
  
Had Maurice Boscorelli, lover of all foods bad for the body just said that?  
  
"WHAT?" he half shouted out, looking back at the three faces staring at him.  
  
He was feeling hot and annoyed and didnt want to explain himself to anyone today.   
  
Bosco glanced down at the menu, trying to decide what to eat, problem was nothing sounded even halfway good to him, everything he read was making his stomach turn and he didnt know why.   
  
He loved this place as much as the next restaurant when he was hungry and didnt understand why nothing sounded appetizing to him.  
  
"Bagel with cream cheese," he said. Perfect. yes. not greasy, not heavy, nothing bad.  
  
  
  
Faith just looked at him.   
  
"You are the biggest junk food, bad food, fast food junkie out there and all you are taking is a bagel?"  
  
"With cream cheese," he said sarcastically, getting more and more agitated with every word that came out of Faith's mouth.  
  
"Oh yea like that is a complete meal! whats going on with you Bos? You have been acting weird all day."  
  
He didnt reply, rolling his eyes at Faith and only getting more and more annoyed at everything.  
  
"Something is definitely going on", Faith thought to herself as she tried to see inside the mind of her partner. "Something is definitely going on." 


	4. Chapter 4 Starting to notice whats wrong

ch.4  
  
Bosco didnt want to get into it with Faith.  
  
Not today.  
  
"Look Faith, I'm just gonna take my bagel and eat it in the car," he said as their food arrived, "I need to be alone for a little while, can I have the keys?"  
  
What Bosco didnt tell her was that she was the reason he was going to the RMP in the first place.  
  
Well not HER exactly but her disgusting dinner.  
  
All that grease and cheese and the smell was making him sick to his stomach.  
  
He knew if he didnt leave now he was going to be in real trouble.  
  
He grabbed the keys from Faith and headed to the door before she could stop him.  
  
"Geez Faith, How do you put up with that every day?" asked Sully, "I would have put in for a new partner a long time ago!"  
  
"Theres somehting wrong with him Sully."  
  
"That's for sure", he replied.  
  
"No, I mean today, theres something wrong with him today. He's being acting weird all shift."  
  
Faith stood up, on instinct to go and see if he was alright, but then sat back down again.  
  
"No, I am not going to be the savior this time. At least not until I finish this burger."   
  
Meanwhile, outside Bosco got into the RMP.  
  
His head was pounding, he was so upset, and he was all shaky.  
  
He was freezing cold but he was sweating all over.   
  
"Oh man if i am even getting sick," he said, "I never get sick. Great just freakin great."  
  
Bosco sighed.   
  
He locked the doors and put his head back and beofre he knew it he was asleep.  
  
Faith finished up her dinner and said goodbye to 55-Charlie as she headed out the door to find her partner.  
  
"Bosco", she yelled as she knocked on the window. 'What the hell did you lock the doors for?"  
  
Bosco jumped awake and unlocked the door. "Sorry, I...I must have dozed off again", he said, all flustered.  
  
Faith looked at Bosco...really looked at him for the first time all day and saw that his face was really flushed and his forehead was really sweaty making his hair go all curly.  
  
He looked absolutely terrible.  
  
"Bos, are you OK? you have got to tell me what is going on. You look like hell. C'mon Bosco."  
  
Bosco heard Faith talking to him but he did not hear what she was saying. He did not answer her, just opened the door to the RMP.  
  
He had to get out fast.  
  
He ran into the alley at the side of the deli.  
  
He didn't know what the hell was wrong with him.   
  
He felt like he was trapped.  
  
  
  
His body was burning up, he couldnt breathe.  
  
At first he thought it was another panic attack coming on, but it wasnt.  
  
It was different.  
  
"BOSCO!" Faith yelled at him as she chased him into the alley.  
  
She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw him. 


	5. chapter 5 Tears for Bos and a call

Need to Sleep ch.5  
  
Bosco was about halfway down the alley when he stopped. His whole body was on fire.  
  
He thought he was gonna pass out. He sat down against the wall with his head between he knees.  
  
"Faith", he whispered to no one as the tears started to fall from his eyes.  
  
Faith had now reached him in the alley and ran up to him.  
  
"Oh my God Bosco what happened? What's wrong? Bos?"  
  
He wiped his face quickly and looked up at her.  
  
She could see the streaks of tears that had fallen down his cheeks.  
  
"I...I just got a little uh...dizzy is all. Just, its just hot. I just got a little hot", he stammered.  
  
'OK C'mon I'll help you back to the car", Faith said as she took his arm.  
  
Bosco stood up with Faith's help. "Thanks I'm really OK. I am, I'm OK."  
  
Faith wasnt sure who he was trying to convince more, her or himself.  
  
Once back in the RMP they both agreed to lay low for the rest of the shift. That was fine by Bosco for all he wanted to do was sleep anyway.   
  
He couldnt wait to get home to his own comfy bed.  
  
They got two calls in the next hour both for minor traffic incidents and Bosco let Faith pretty much handle them on her own.  
  
He just leaned against the squad while she patiently took statements from the people involved.  
  
She couldnt believe he was just standing there against the car. Not because he wasnt helping her, she was used to that, but because he wasnt mouthing off to these idiots in front of him, as was standard Boscorelli procedure for something this stupid!  
  
With about an hour to go in their shift Faith stopped the car in front of a beverage store.  
  
"Just gonna go grab a drink. You want anything?" she asked Bos.  
  
"A coke would be great. Thanks."  
  
She ran inside and was back in a couple of minutes.   
  
They sat in uneasy silence and drank their sodas, both of them wanting to speak up but neither of them doing so.  
  
Just as Bosco was about to say something to Faith a call came through for a domestic violence disturbance, with one male suspect taking off on foot.  
  
"So much for a quiet end to the night," Faith thought. She flipped on the lights and headed to the call. "Three blocks away. I sure hope its a fast one cos i dont wanna be stuck up at the house all freakin night on this," she said to Bosco.  
  
Bosco had been feeling a little better. That was until they got the call and Faith took off up the road like a NASCAR pro.  
  
"Ughhhh, Faith, take it easy would ya. Slow down a little here." His stomach rolled as she turned the corner.  
  
"Bos we got a suspect on foot 3 blocks away and we gotta try and get this guy", Faith shouted at him.  
  
She pulled over when she saw a really angry woman shouting and waving her hands in their direction. It was the wife of the suspect and she yelled to them that her husband hit her then took off up the street. He was wearing jeans and a long sleeve yellow teeshirt.  
  
Faith started up the road. About two blocks up they saw the guy. "There, over there Bos", as she pointed to the right.   
  
"Let me out" Bosco said, although he didnt really want to get in to a foot chase for this creep.  
  
Bosco started running after the guy, who hadnt seen him yet, but figured the cops would be on his tail soon.  
  
When he looked back and saw Bosco chasing him, he began to run even faster.  
  
"Damn", Bosco shouted. Damn you. Get back here asshole."  
  
He was running of out energy fast. The perp ran around the corner, Bosco in pursuit.   
  
Faith saw them headed around the corner and decided to cut them off at the other side. "Gonna cut him off at the end of the alley. Keep him boxed in", she radioed to Bosco.   
  
Bosco couldnt reply. He was out of breath and exhausted from running. On any other day he would have caught the guy already but there was no way he was catching up to this guy. Not today anyway.  
  
It had been a few minutes since Faith pulled up at the end of the alley where the street began again, waiting for the husband to appear, and Bosco to follow. Problem was, there was no guy, and even worse, there was no Bosco... 


	6. Chapter 6 Bosco gets into a chase

chapter 6  
  
"Bos, Where are you?" Faith asked him over the two way.  
  
"He cut into this old building Faith, on a side door," Bosco half whispered, half panted. "I...I dont see him." Wait, wait out there if he comes out...there's... i think there's only one way out."  
  
It was a huge, old abandoned building, a warehouse of some sort.  
  
Bosco didnt really think he was catching this guy in here unless a small miracle happened.  
  
All of a sudden he heard a noise above him.  
  
He looked up and saw the guy on the metal staircase about one flight up.  
  
Bosco took off up the stairs, sometimes taking two stairs at a time. His body was running on pure adrenaline. He didnt know how much longer he could keep going at this pace before he passed out, he was so hot and sweaty.  
  
Faster and faster they ran up the stairs...all of a sudden the guy stopped. Bosco reached the top as well and was right in front of the perp.   
  
They were 3 flights up and it was a dead end. No where to go but down.  
  
Bosco drew his gun.  
  
"Turn around,slowly, hands on the wall", he shouted at the guy.  
  
The guy just stood there staring at him.  
  
Bosco felt a twinge of panic.  
  
He usually was fearless in these situations but today he wasnt so sure of himself.   
  
"What the hell is this guy doing?" he thought to himself.  
  
"TURN THE HELL AROUND, HANDS ON THE WALL BEFORE I SHOOT YOU ASSHOLE!" Bosco yelled at the guy one more time.  
  
This time the guy turned around except instead of putting his hands up on the wall the guy freakin stepped to the ledge and jumped three stories down to the ground floor.  
  
Bosco looked over the side, and saw as he hit the ground the guy started running to the door.  
  
"Shit...Shit!" Bosco shouted and turned around to run back down the stairs.  
  
Going down, he radioed to Faith, "Faith he's coming your way, he's headed out the side door of the alley." 


	7. Chapter 7 Bos cant hide that he is sick

chapter 7  
  
Bosco was really running out of steam this time as he hit the ground floor and busted through the alley door.  
  
Luckily he wouldn't have to chase the guy any further, because just as he ran through the door, he saw Faith putting the guy into the back of the RMP.  
  
"Good chase Bos," Faith said to Bosco, thinking he would be really happy about that.  
  
But Bosco didnt stop, he just kept on jogging towards the other end of the alley.  
  
"Bosco, Hey Bos, we got the guy," she yelled to him not sure where he was going.  
  
Faith shut the door of the RMP and started to head over to where Bosco was.  
  
He had been acting weird all day long.  
  
She glanced in his direction, wondering what the hell he was doing now.  
  
From a distance, Bosco looked to Faith like he was being frisked, leaning over the side of the building with his hands up against the wall in front of him.  
  
Bosco's mind was all hazy.  
  
He couldn't focus.  
  
He was hot..really hot ... and he was sweating.  
  
Yea he had just chased a perp for the last 20 minutes in 90 degree weather in a full uniform.  
  
Then why did he feel so cold?  
  
His body was shivering; "That isn't right", he thought.  
  
He had a funny feeling in the pit of his stomach.  
  
Oh crap, That could only mean one thing.  
  
He was gonna get sick and he knew it.  
  
He leaned over towards the building and put his hands on the wall for support.  
  
"No, not now, please," he thought, and before he could even take a step back, Bosco threw up.  
  
It wasn't pretty.  
  
He heaved again, just as Faith got over to him.  
  
"God why does she have to see me like this?" Bosco thought as he looked down.  
  
"Ughhhh what did I eat?" he groaned as he saw the contents of his stomach all over the ground.  
  
Faith was stunned. She had never seen Bosco sick, not like this.  
  
Maybe just a cold every now and then, but he was the luckiest most immune person she had ever known.   
  
When everyone else in the 55 got the stomach flu, he never did.  
  
When she brought germs from her kids around him every day, he never caught it.  
  
Hell, you could breathe the germs on him and he still wouldn't get sick!  
  
She put her hand on his back and he flinched.  
  
"Sorry," he whispered to her, as he leaned over and got sick again.  
  
Faith could tell that he was really uncomfortable, and she gently rubbed his back.  
  
"Why are you sorry Bos? We got the guy, he's in the back of the squad," she said to him, although she knew that's not what he had meant.  
  
Bosco leaned forward and threw up again.  
  
"Damn Boz," Faith said under her breath.  
  
He groaned.  
  
Faith just rubbed his back, her motherly instincts taking over.  
  
Bosco thought he was gonna keel over right there; he felt like absolute and total crap.  
  
He was freezing cold and at the same time all hot and sweaty, not to mention totally embarrassed.  
  
All he wanted to do was curl up in his bed and never come out.  
  
"Are you done?" Faith asked him softly, not wanting to cause any more tension to what was an already awkward situation.   
  
She put her hand around his waist and helped him stand up.  
  
"Uh, I...I uh...think...I don't know," he said to Faith; "Look Faith, I'm really sorry. I...I don't know what my problem is. You dont..have to see..to...to you know, be here with me," he stammered.  
  
"Boz, relax, I'm used to it, Faith said," I mean between Fred with his hangovers and all the times the kids have been sick, I've seen enough puke in my day. You don't have to be embarrassed, and you don't have to apologize; don't worry about it."  
  
Bosco nodded his head.  
  
He was completely mortified, and he felt like a total ass. His partner and best friend had just witnessed what would go down as quite possibly one of the most humiliating experiences of his life, at least from his standpoint.   
  
"Faith," Bosco said as he pulled away from her quickly.  
  
He turned threw up again, this time not as much, but it sure hurt a lot more.   
  
He had to stop and get sick one more time as they walked back to the squad, but it was nothing, just the dry heaves with a little of the coke and bagel he had eaten earlier.  
  
As embarrassed as he was, Bosco sure was glad it was Faith here with him and not some random idiot from the 55.  
  
It was all he need for this to get back to the house; Maurice Boscorelli, supercop, pukes guts out in alley after 4 block chase!!  
  
They got into the car.  
  
"Lets get back to the house, deal with this creep and then I am taking you home," Faith said.  
  
"Whoa Faith, wait a minute, I don't need to be 'taken' anywhere," Bosco said to her, trying to hide the fact that that he was really not OK.  
  
"Bosco, there is obviously something very wrong with you, and I just want to make sure that you are all right."  
  
Bosco was starting to get irritated again: damn his patience was at a low, even for him.  
  
"Look Faith, he snapped, I'm not one of your kids, and I am fine. I don't need anyone to make sure I am all right, I can look out for myself just fine," he said.  
  
"Bosco"  
  
"its something I ate Faith; that damn deli back there, and runnin in all this heat, I mean it is really hot out. All I need is a cold shower and a good night of sleep."  
  
"Uh huh," Faith was not buying it.  
  
She knew Bosco too well to know that he was lying through his teeth, but it was late and she wanted to get back to the house with this perp.  
  
She would push it a little with Bosco, but she wasn't gonna fight with him, not if he wasn't gonna break right away.  
  
"I'm fine Faith," he said.  
  
"Uh huh, yea Bos, you have been acting weird all day so don't give me any crap excuses. You look like shit, you have all day, even before we ate dinner, and you had a bagel Bosco, so don't tell me you are fine when you eat only a freakin bagel for dinner."  
  
"I wasn't hungry," he replied, his voice softer than before.  
  
"Boz, you just puked your guts out like five times back there."  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
"Like hell you are."  
  
Bosco bowed his head in defeat.  
  
He knew better than to argue with Faith when she thought she was right, let alone when she WAS right. 


	8. Chapter 8 Faith and Bos get into it afte

Chapter 8  
  
Bosco knew that Faith was right.  
  
Hell she was right 95% of the time and probably more when it came to him.  
  
She sure did know how to read him.  
  
He was going to have to put on one hell of a performance to get her to back down on this one.  
  
Faith and Bosco got finished booking their collar with about ten minutes left on shift and quietly went to the locker room to change.  
  
Ty and Sully were right behind them.  
  
"Long shift, what about you two? Heard you had a big chase?" Ty asked them.  
  
"Yea and I am gonna sleep like a brick tonight," Faith replied.  
  
"Hey Davis, you up for a couple rounds at the bar?" Bosco spoke up, his face purposely turned away from Faith, "I'm nowhere near tired yet."  
  
Faith looked up from her locker.  
  
She could not believe what she was hearing, after what had just happened.  
  
"Bosco, after tonight..."   
  
He cut her off.  
  
"Yea after tonight I need a few good shots," Bosco said, "we had a rough one with that wife beatin thing."   
  
He turned to face Davis but could feel Faith's eyes all over him.  
  
"Sure thing Bosco, I could hit a couple with you," Ty said.  
  
Faith shut her locker and brushed past Bosco.  
  
He could be so damn stubborn.  
  
He was sick and trying to cover and she knew it.  
  
"See you tomorrow Faith," he said to her as she walked out the locker room door.  
  
"What's her problem?" Ty said to Bosco, noticing the chill that just ran through the room.  
  
"What did you do to her now Bosco?" Sully chimed in, always eager to bust Bosco's chops.  
  
Bosco said nothing but gave Sully a look that could freeze Hell over.  
  
Those eyes said more than Bosco ever could.  
  
"Davis man, I'm gonna take a raincheck on the bar, I forgot there is something I need to do," he looked over at Ty.  
  
"Yea man, whatever...later days then," Ty replied  
  
"Thanks man, sorry, catch up with ya later then," Bosco said and was out the door.  
  
"Yea no problem," said Davis.  
  
Ty looked over at Sully, "Those two never quit, its always something with them," Sully said.  
  
Bosco was kind of glad he got out of drinks with Ty, actually he was really glad, because he still wasn't feeling well, and was only trying to hide it from Faith in the first place.  
  
All he really wanted was to go home to bed and peace and quiet all night.  
  
As Bosco walked out of the station into the cool night air, a chill ran through him.  
  
He couldn't see Faith and figured that was probably for the best, he would most likely have to hear it from her tomorrow anyway.  
  
Bosco walked over to his car and got in.  
  
Damn he was really freakin tired, and his head was starting to pound again.  
  
"Home. Bed. Sleep," Bosco thought that sounded perfect as he pulled out.  
  
The drive home seemed to take forever.   
  
The lights from the streets and the cars were really bothering his eyes, and making his head spin.  
  
"Boom!", with every step he took up to his apartment, his head felt like someone was taking a sledgehammer to it.  
  
Bosco opened the door to his apartment and walked inside.  
  
He threw his keys on the kitchen counter and grabbed a glass from the cupboard.  
  
He filled it with water and headed to the bathroom, kicking his shoes off on the way.  
  
He had to find something to take the pain in his head away, problem was this Boscorelli rarely kept any type of drugs in the house.  
  
Not with a drug addict brother and alcoholic father, he was smarter than that.  
  
Bosco swore he was gonna pass out from the pain as he scoured the medicine cabinet for relief.  
  
"Thank God," he whispered to himself as he found a bottle of Advil in the back.  
  
It was all Bosco could do to open the bottle.  
  
"1 or 2 pills every six hours," he read.  
  
"OK 4 should cure this thing," he thought as he chugged the pills with some water.  
  
He walked into his bedroom and fell into bed, not even bothering to take his clothes off.  
  
It was 1204 AM. 


	9. Chapter 9 Bos tries to get some sleep

Chapter 9  
  
At about 230 AM Bosco woke suddenly from sleep.  
  
He was covered in sweat and extremely uncomfortable.  
  
He was all tangled up in his comforter and shivering he was so cold.  
  
His headache was a little better, but his neck and shoulders were killing him.  
  
"Damn mattress," Bosco muttered as he tried to twist himself free.  
  
Even though he was still freezing cold, he had to get out of these sweaty clothes and into something a little more comfortable.  
  
He glanced at the clock. 245 Uhhh!  
  
So much for a good night sleep.  
  
Bosco decided to catch a quick shower to try and warm up and loosen his muscles up.  
  
He usually showered as soon as he got home from a shift but obviously tonight that didn't happen.  
  
Bosco turned the shower on hot and stripped his clothes off.  
  
His body shivered, and his eyes hurt from the sudden light.  
  
His headache was still bothering him but not as badly.  
  
He rubbed his eyes, still half asleep, trying to get used to the light.  
  
He stepped into the shower.  
  
Bosco leaned his head back and let the water fall over his body.  
  
He took the soap and rubbed it all over his body.  
  
He was too tired and sore to bother paying attention to what he was doing, for if he did, he would have noticed the small purple blotches that were beginning to form on his stomach... 


	10. Chapter 10 In the Middle of the Night

Chapter 10  
  
Bosco finished rinsing off then grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist.  
  
He walked into his bedroom and started rummaging through his drawers for some clean sweats and a tee shirt, when he noticed what looked like a purple bruise near his stomach.  
  
"What the hell is that?" he thought to himself.  
  
Bosco went back into the bathroom and took his towel off to get a better look.  
  
In the light of the bathroom it looked somewhat to Bosco like a bruise forming, yet it was all splotchy and uneven.  
  
Bos tried to think when he could have gotten hit there hard enough to leave a bruise.  
  
The guy he had chased into the alley earlier that night hadn't laid a hand on him, and he hadn't gotten into any other altercations or situations that required excessive force recently.  
  
He touched his stomach with his hands, lightly pressing to see if it hurt.  
  
It didn't.  
  
Bosco stood in the bathroom buck naked and shivering staring at his stomach, trying to figure out what the hell was happening to him.  
  
He walked back into his room and put his clean clothes on.  
  
The headaches, the getting sick, the being so tired all the time, and now this...  
  
Something was going on, he couldn't deny it any longer.  
  
Well, until it interfered with his life to the point of not being able to function that is just what Bosco was gonna do.  
  
He glanced at the clock.   
  
310AM.  
  
Way to late to be stuck worrying about this all night.  
  
Bos got back into bed and prayed for the next 6 hours to be nothing but peaceful slumber.  
  
His prayers would go unanswered.  
  
At about 430 AM Bosco woke from sleep again.  
  
He had sweat pouring down his back and neck.  
  
His breathing was labored and short, just like when he was having a panic attack.  
  
A panic attack?  
  
Some of the signs were there, except Bosco hadn't had an attack in close to a year, and there was no real reason for him to be suffering from one now.  
  
"This cant be happening," he thought.  
  
Bosco took a few deep breaths.  
  
There were no horrifying, vivid flashbacks, and there was no feeling like the world was crashing in around him.  
  
Really the only similarities were the erratic breathing and the sweating, so there had to be something else going on.  
  
But what?  
  
Bosco felt sick to his stomach.  
  
"If I am even getting the damn flu," he thought.  
  
His stomach churned and Bosco thought he was going to get sick again.  
  
He went into the bathroom, kneeled down in front of the toilet and heaved.  
  
There was nothing.  
  
Of course, he had been so sick earlier and all he had eaten that day was half a bagel; there was surely nothing in his stomach now.  
  
Bosco sat on the cold tile floor of the bathroom.  
  
He leaned his head back and groaned.  
  
He felt extremely weak.  
  
He had no energy left.  
  
He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this bad.  
  
He knew that he had to try and eat something to get energy for work later, or else he wouldn't be able to function on the job.  
  
Bos stood up to go into the kitchen and try and eat something.  
  
He made it as far as his bed. 


	11. Chapter 11 Lunch with Faith

Chapter 11  
  
At 1130 AM Bosco rolled over in bed.  
  
Ringing...  
  
There was a ringing in his ears.  
  
Bosco rubbed his temples.  
  
His headache had not gone away.  
  
What the hell was that noise?  
  
Ring...  
  
Ring...  
  
He tried to clear his head.  
  
THE PHONE!  
  
The damn phone was ringing.  
  
Bosco sat up and reached over to the phone.  
  
"Who the hell is calling me this early," he thought, "it had better be important."  
  
"Hello," he groaned into to the receiver.  
  
"Well, sounds like someone had a few too many last night."  
  
It was Faith on the other end.  
  
"Oh hey Faith," Bosco said groggily.  
  
He shook his head, trying to stop the fogginess, concentrate on the conversation,   
  
and wake up a little bit.  
  
"Look Boz," said Faith, "I really just wanted to call to say that I really don't care what you do after the shift is over, and I wanted to say sorry for gettin all in your face yesterday at the house and stuff."  
  
Yesterday.  
  
Yesterday.  
  
What the hell happened yesterday?  
  
OK ...yea...Faith stormed out of the locker room.  
  
It was all coming back to Bosco now.  
  
"I just wanted to see if you were OK," Faith said to him.  
  
She had still thought Bosco had gone out drinking with Ty last night.  
  
"Yea," Bosco cleared his throat, "yea I'm fine Faith," just really tired."  
  
"I just need to sleep, can we talk about this later?" he mumbled in to the phone.  
  
If Faith thought Bosco had gone out drinking all night with Ty and was all hung over this morning then he wasn't gonna tell her any different.  
  
At least then maybe she would get off his back about this being sick thing.  
  
"Sleep? C'mon Bos, get your ass outta bed and meet me at Joe's for some lunch would ya," Faith said to him.   
  
"Its practically the middle of the day already, and I've been craving their corned beef for like a week now," she said to him.  
  
Bosco sighed.  
  
He really didn't want to go.  
  
His head still hurt, he was so tired, and the thought of food right now was enough to send him running to the bathroom again.  
  
But Bosco didn't want to get on Faith's bad side, not when food was involved, and especially not when she was in craving mode!  
  
"Maybe it will be good for me," he thought.  
  
"All right, yea how about at one?" he said to Faith.   
  
"I need to wake up and get a shower and get ready for the shift."  
  
"One? Geez Boz, you are worse then a woman gettin all ready!  
  
Remind me never to ask you out again after you've been drinkin all night," she chuckled. "see you at one then. Bye."  
  
"Bye."  
  
Bosco hung up the phone and rolled back over in bed.  
  
What the hell time was it anyway?  
  
Faith said it was practically the middle of the day.  
  
He looked at the clock.  
  
1150 A.M.  
  
That may be the middle of the day to someone with kids, but to Bosco it meant nothing but a possible extra hour or two of sleep!  
  
Bosco had slept for at least six solid hours, but he still felt so tired and his body yearned for more sleep.  
  
His shoulders and neck were really sore.  
  
Bosco thought maybe he would feel better if he got a hot shower and some lunch.  
  
He threw the covers off and rolled out of bed.  
  
As he stood up, Bosco started to feel dizzy and lightheaded.  
  
He felt his head get really cloudy and he swayed.  
  
Bosco fell backwards.  
  
Luckily the bed was there, or Bosco would have been knocked out cold on the floor.  
  
He sat up on the bed, then leaned over and put his head between his knees.  
  
It did not make him feel any better at all.  
  
"Why do they tell you to do that when you feel faint?" Bosco thought, " I feel like I am going through the spin cycle from hell!"  
  
He slowly lifted his head up.  
  
OK better.  
  
He stood up slowly and walked into the bathroom.  
  
"Damn if I'm late Faith is gonna shoot me," Bosco thought as he stripped of the sweats and tee shirt he had been sleeping in.  
  
Bosco looked own at his stomach, remembering the bruises he had discovered earlier.  
  
He was surprised to see that they didn't really look like bruises this time though, more like a purple splotchy rash.  
  
"Great I'm turning into a one man freak show," he thought as he stepped into the shower.  
  
Twenty minutes later, Bosco emerged from the shower, if not feeling any better, at least cleaner than he had ever felt!  
  
He toweled himself dry.  
  
His neck and shoulders still ached.  
  
Bosco made a quick mental note to look for a mattress for his bed, because damn his neck and shoulders were really sore!  
  
He felt like he had just lifted weights for a couple of hours at the gym and strained every upper body muscle possible.  
  
His head was still killing him.  
  
Bosco dragged himself into his bedroom and found some clean clothes to put on.  
  
He threw on a navy blue NYPD tee that he could wear under his uniform shirt, figuring the less changing he had to do at the house before shift the better.  
  
Bosco grabbed his gun belt and walked into the living room, grabbing his shoes on the way.  
  
His off duty gun was on the top shelf of the closet locked in a safe.  
  
Bos usually wore it on his ankle as an extra measure of protection, but today he just couldn't be bothered with the effort to even get it all out.  
  
"Not like I ever need that thing anyway," he thought to himself as he sat down to put his shoes on.   
  
  
  
Bosco glanced at the clock.  
  
It was 1230.  
  
He'd better get going or he would be late.  
  
Midtown traffic was a bitch at lunchtime.  
  
He made sure he had everything he needed, grabbed his keys and was out the door.  
  
Bosco pulled up to the restaurant that Faith had wanted to meet at; Joe's; It was a favorite of a lot of the 55th precinct.  
  
"The food is good enough," Bosco thought, "and Faith freakin loves this place."  
  
Bosco had spent most of the drive to the restaurant trying to shake the dizzy feeling he had been having.  
  
He just couldn't kick this headache thing and was starting to get really annoyed by it all.  
  
Bosco glanced at his watch. 1255-perfect.  
  
He walked into the restaurant and looked around for Faith.  
  
"Good afternoon officer, can I help you?" came a voice from behind him.  
  
It was the hostess.  
  
"She must see a lot of cops," Bosco thought, "if she can   
  
recognize one out of uniform!"  
  
"Yea, I'm just meeting someone here for lunch," Bosco replied, "but I don't see her yet."  
  
"OK, well would you like to walk around and see if she is on he other side?" the hostess asked him.  
  
"Thanks," Bosco said as he started to walk into the dining area of the restaurant.  
  
Faith was sitting in a booth by the front window and waved Bosco over when she saw him.  
  
"Hey Faith" Bosco said as he slid into the seat across from her.  
  
'Dam Bos, you look like Hell," Faith said to him as he sat down.  
  
She noticed his skin was all pasty looking and he had big dark circles under his eyes.   
  
"You must have really tied one on last night hey?" she said to Bosco as a smile spread across her face.  
  
Bosco did not reply, just cracked a slight smirk in her direction and proceeded to open his menu.  
  
"Well, I know what I am having already so don't take too long choosin OK?" Faith asked him.  
  
Bosco looked at the menu.  
  
The words were all blurring together.  
  
He squinted his eyes.  
  
"Damn," Bosco thought," I cant even see this freakin menu clearly, I'm really falling apart."  
  
He squinted his eyes again and tried once more to read the menu.  
  
The waitress appeared at their table.  
  
"Hi how are you two today?  
  
Faith and Bosco both looked up.  
  
"Fine, thank you" Faith said.  
  
Bosco just smiled in her direction.  
  
"He sure isn't saying much today, wonder what's up his ass," Faith thought as she looked Bosco's direction.  
  
"Are you all ready to order?" the waitress asked them.  
  
"I'm ready" Faith said, and, "I need a minute" Bosco replied at the same time.  
  
"OK," their waitress said, "I will be back in just a minute then."  
  
"C'mon Bosco, I am starving, would ya just pick something already?" Faith said to him as the waitress walked away.  
  
Bosco looked down at the menu.  
  
Although his stomach was growling and he knew that he needed to eat, Bosco just didnt have his normal appetite for some reason.  
  
"I'm picking here all right Faith," Bosco said to her." There's a lot to choose from, so gimme a minute."   
  
Their waitress appeared again.  
  
"Ready then?" she asked them, looking in Bosco's direction.  
  
Faith didnt wait for his reply.  
  
"Well, I am gonna have the corned beef special on rye with the steak fries and an extra pickle please," Faith said.  
  
"And for you Officer?" the waitress asked Bosco.  
  
"Uh, I...Uh..." Bosco stammered.  
  
"C'mon Bos, this isn't friggin brain surgery here," Faith said to him in an annoyed tone, "just pick something already."  
  
"Ok I'll take Uh...steak and potatoes" Bosco replied but instantly had second thoughts on ordering steak, feeling like he was right now.  
  
"No wait," he blurted out, "can you make that a cheeseburger instead, extra well done, and I guess I'll take steak fries too." Bosco said to the waitress.  
  
As much as he loved steak, on a good day it was a lot for his stomach to handle, let alone on a day that he was already feeling like crap.  
  
"A cheeseburger and some fries would go down easy and hopefully be light on his stomach," Bosco thought.  
  
At least he hoped it would, he didnt want to end up like yesterday in the alley.  
  
"And for drinks?" the waitress asked them.  
  
"Coke" Bosco replied quickly.  
  
"Iced tea please," Faith said.  
  
"Thank You so much" she added, wondering where Bosco's manners were today.  
  
The waitress walked away from their table and out of sight.  
  
"So what did you and Ty do at the bar then last night?" Faith asked Bosco hoping to snap him out of his funky mood.  
  
"Crap", thought Bosco, "she's gonna bust me now."  
  
Bosco thought what to do.  
  
Was he gonna lie to Faith and risk getting caught later on, or was he gonna tell her the truth and get an earful anyway?  
  
"Well, we kinda took a raincheck on the bar," Bosco said, " Davis was tired and I decided to go home and just call it a night too."  
  
Faith looked at Bosco and opened her mouth to speak, but quickly decided against it.  
  
She was gonna ask him why he still looked like he had just gone ten rounds with Jose Cuervo and he hadn't even gone out the night before, but she changed her mind at the last second.  
  
"Uh huh," faith replied and left it at that.  
  
This was one battle that Faith did not want to get started right before their shift began.  
  
She didnt want it hanging over them for the whole day.  
  
Bosco just looked down, ready to hear it from Faith.  
  
Surely she was gonna lay into him any minute now.  
  
But she said nothing more.  
  
Bosco raised his head and looked at her.  
  
This was gonna be a long ass day. 


	12. Chapter 12 What happens to Bosco in the

Chapter 12  
  
The waitress arrived at their table with their lunches, and it smelled so good to Faith that she felt her mouth watering.  
  
Hot corned beef, she had been craving it since she went on that freakin diet two weeks ago.  
  
The waitress set their food down in front of them, told then to enjoy their meal and left them to eat.  
  
"Mmm," Faith said as she picked up her sandwich,"this smells so damn good."  
  
Bosco cracked a smile at her then looked down at his own food.  
  
The smell of his food wafted upwards making his stomach grumble with hunger, but at the same time, Bosco just didn't have the desire or appetite dig in and devour it like he usually would.  
  
The thought of all of the grease on his cheeseburger was making Bosco nauseous.  
  
Bosco picked up his burger and took a bite.  
  
He chewed fast hoping that the nausea he was feeling would fade as soon as food hit his stomach.  
  
He took a handful of fries and crammed them into his mouth.  
  
"Starch drowns out grease," Bosco thought, hoping the fries weren't as greasy as the burger was.  
  
"Damn Bos, take it easy there's no race," Faith said to him as he continued stuffing his face with fries.  
  
"I just don't wanna be late for roll call again" Bosco said to her with a mouth full of food.  
  
"Boz its like only 130," Faith replied, looking at her watch.  
  
Bosco took a huge gulp of coke and sighed.  
  
"I guess I am just a lot hungrier than I thought I was," he said to Faith, trying to cover the fact that he felt like his stomach was gonna implode at any given moment.  
  
"Well, slow down will ya, I'm not exactly lookin to be stuck at the house with nothin to do an hour before we go on shift," Faith said to Bosco.  
  
Bosco stood up suddenly.  
  
"I'm gonna hit the head, Faith" he said as he turned quickly to go to the restroom.  
  
"Please let no one be in here," Bosco whispered to himself as he pushed open the door to the men's bathroom.  
  
There was only one guy at the sink, apparently just finishing up, because he nodded at Bosco and turned to leave just as Bosco stepped inside.  
  
There were only two stalls in the bathroom and both of the doors were open.  
  
Bosco was alone.  
  
"Thank God," Bosco said out loud as he hurried up into a stall and shut the door.  
  
Bosco had barely locked the door and turned around when he felt the food that he had just eaten come rushing back up from his stomach.  
  
He leaned over and just in time as the vomit came violently pouring out of his mouth.  
  
Bosco gagged, the bile stinging the back of his throat, as he threw up again.  
  
His eyes were watering and as he threw up, Bosco felt the puke coming out of his nose too.  
  
Bosco reached for some toilet paper to wipe his nose and mouth with.  
  
He looked down into the toilet and gagged at the sight.  
  
He threw up two more times, wiped his nose and mouth again, and flushed the toilet.  
  
Bosco felt slightly better, now that the food was out of his system, yet he still wanted nothing more than to pass out right about that moment.  
  
He stood up and leaned against the stall door.  
  
Bosco wondered how long he had been in the bathroom.  
  
It couldn't have been more than ten minutes, but he knew that Faith was gonna start wondering where he was if he didn't get back out there soon.  
  
He leaned over the toilet again, feeling the awful heaves wracking his body once more.  
  
Bosco thought he was gonna die if this kept up, he had never been this sick before.  
  
He flushed the toilet one last time then walked out to the sinks.  
  
He looked in the mirror and was slightly startled at his reflection.  
  
Bosco wasn't sure it was possible, but he thought that he actually looked green in the face, he was so sick!  
  
Well, it was more like greenish/gray skin mixed in with his already pasty white complexion.  
  
Whatever the case, Bosco knew that Faith was gonna be all over him as soon as he got back to the table looking like he did then.  
  
Bosco turned on the cold water and splashed it all over his face.  
  
He rinsed his mouth out a couple of times, wishing he had some sort of breath mint to get rid of the disgusting taste in his mouth.  
  
He rubbed his eyes a couple of times and slapped his own cheeks, trying to get some color back in them.  
  
Bosco still looked really bad, but he went back out, halfway not caring at all what Faith thought, he felt so incredibly crappy.  
  
He still felt like he was gonna puke again, but he knew that there was nothing to puke up in his stomach, so he tried to mentally tell himself that.  
  
As he approached the table, Faith immediately sensed that something was wrong.  
  
Bosco sat down and tried to act as normal as possible.  
  
"Bosco are you all right?" Faith asked him, the concern obvious in her voice.  
  
Bosco nodded at her as he took a small sip of his water.  
  
"What happened? What the Hell took you so long?" she asked him.  
  
"You were gone for like...ever in there Bos, our waitress even came back with the check cos she thought you left."  
  
"Yea sorry I was talking to some old geezer in the can," Bosco lied. He went all soft on me, something about his wife just died blah blah blah...guess he assumed I was the caring type seein the uniform and all."  
  
Bosco was looking at his food.  
  
Faith knew that he was lying because he wouldn't look her in the eye.  
  
She could always read him through those tough hazel eyes.  
  
Tough as steel but she saw right through him when he looked at her with those eyes.  
  
If only he would look at her right now.  
  
"Bosco, look at me," Faith said.  
  
"What Faith?" he said sternly, trying to act somewhat pissed off.  
  
Bosco knew that she didn't believe what he had just told her.  
  
He glanced at Faith's plate.  
  
She had finished the rest of her lunch while he was experiencing Hell in the bathroom.  
  
Good.  
  
Bosco saw that as the perfect out for him not to have to finish his lunch.  
  
"What's going on Bosco? Are you straight?" Faith asked him.  
  
Bosco looked at his watch.   
  
It was 2:00.   
  
Damn had he really been in there for that long?  
  
"Look Faith, lets just get out of here, go window shop before the shift OK?" Bosco said, hoping that she would go for that and get up to leave.  
  
She did not.  
  
Faith didn't move in her seat.  
  
She was starting to get pissed at whatever game Bosco was trying to play.  
  
"Aren't you gonna finish eating your food Boz, seein as you were so hungry and all before you ran off to converse with the restroom patrons," Faith sarcastically said to him.  
  
Bosco heard the hostility in her voice.  
  
Faith really had wanted to avoid confronting Bosco on his weird ass behavior the last couple of days, but it was like dangling steak in front of a lion; she could not resist.  
  
It would just eat at her for the rest of the day if she did not get in front of this now, so she decided to push it a little.  
  
"So, Bosco, C'mon eat up there, ya don't want to let a good meal go to waste."  
  
Faith knew that she was gonna start something by pushing him, but she couldn't stop herself.  
  
"All of those bad asses we may have to deal with today, even chase down, Bosco you need your energy and strength after yesterday," she said to him.  
  
Ok so maybe that was going a little too far.  
  
Bosco curled his lip.  
  
SHE was not gonna get to him.  
  
Not today.   
  
He was in no mood to be fighting with Faith all shift long.  
  
He didn't know if it was the anger bubbling inside of him from what she had just said, or the look of pure mockery on Faith's face, but Bosco picked up the remaining half of his cheeseburger and practically swallowed it whole.  
  
He finished all of his fries and even the pickle too, in record time, chugged his coke, grabbed the bill, tossed some money down on the table and stood up.  
  
"This is gonna be a great day!" he said sarcastically to Faith "LETS GO!"  
  
Faith left her share of the bill on the table and stood up too.  
  
She had an evil smirk on her face because she knew that she was getting to Bosco already and he wasn't gonna last.  
  
She knew that he wasn't gonna last.  
  
Faith was gonna break him and make him come clean, and it was gonna be soon.  
  
She just didn't realize how soon. 


	13. Chapter 13 Bosco starts to fall apartcan

Chapter 13  
  
Since Faith didn't drive to the deli and Bosco did, he really didn't have a choice than to offer Faith a ride with him to the house.  
  
Sure it was only seven blocks but to make her walk would be rude and cruel, even for Bosco.  
  
As they got into the car, Bosco started really regretting stuffing his face like he did with all of his lunch.  
  
Sure he had been really pissed at Faith for her remark and he had only done it to spite her, but in his present condition it couldn't have been a more stupid thing to do.  
  
Bosco got in behind the wheel and silently prayed that the volcano acting up in his stomach would not erupt before he could make his way to a bathroom.  
  
Faith shut her door, and as she did Bosco slammed his and proceeded to peel out, tires screeching, eager to get to the precinct before it was too late.  
  
"Would ya slow down Bosco," Faith said to him, "I understand that you are pissed at me but you don't have to go and get us both killed."  
  
Bosco slowed a little but he was in a rush to get to the house before he tossed his cookies all over the damn car.  
  
He was staring to get all shaky and sweat was dripping down his forehead.  
  
Bosco started taking deep breaths and silently repeating over and over to himself, "I will not get sick, I will not get sick."  
  
Faith just looked at him and shook her head.  
  
He could be so damn stubborn.  
  
She did not realize that Bosco was physically falling apart inside.  
  
She just thought he was being an ass.  
  
They pulled up to the precinct and Bosco didn't even wait for Faith as he bolted out of the car and up the steps of the 55.  
  
"Jerk," Faith mumbled as she crossed the street and headed to the door.  
  
Meanwhile inside the house, Bosco had blown past the Lieutenant and taken the stairs two at a time, almost knocking down several people that were in his way.  
  
"Boscorelli!" the Lieutenant yelled at him, but he was already gone around the corner and didn't hear him.  
  
Bosco busted through the door of the locker room and headed straight for the bathroom stalls not giving a damn if anyone was in his way.  
  
There was no one around that Bosco could see as he tried to make it into the bathroom stall before throwing up.  
  
He got about four steps from the door as he felt lunch coming back up.  
  
"Oh shit," Bosco thought as he lunged for the toilet bowl.  
  
He missed by a step as the puke landed all over the toilet seat and floor of the bathroom stall.  
  
Bosco fell to his knees and leaned over and puked some more.  
  
This time he made it into the toilet bowl, trying not to get it all over himself in the process.  
  
Bosco had to hurry up and stop throwing up and clean up the mess all over the stall floor or else he was gonna get busted by whoever walked through that door next.  
  
Bosco quickly stood up and noticed that he had vomit all over his pants.  
  
"Damn it," Bosco said out loud.  
  
When he had kneeled down, it was right in a pile of his own puke and he didn't even notice until now.  
  
Bosco sighed.  
  
He wondered if he had some clean pants in his locker, but first he had to worry about cleaning this mess up.  
  
Faith entered the 55th precinct and was immediately stopped by the desk sergeant as she walked by.  
  
"Lieu wants to see Bosco in his office so when you see him would you let him know?" he asked Faith.  
  
"Yea sure thing Sarge," she replied.  
  
"What did Bosco do now?" came a voice from behind her that Faith instantly recognized as Ty, arriving early for his shift too.  
  
"Who knows, he's only been here five minutes, but he's gonna have to deal with me first because he's been an ass all day and I am not gonna stand for that!" Faith said to him as they walked up the stairs to the locker room.  
  
"He's been acting weird for a couple of days now and then we go out to lunch today before shift and he's just being a total jerk to everyone and then he practically kills us driving here," Faith let loose on Ty; I am sorry, he gets me so worked up sometimes," she chuckled.  
  
"That's OK Faith, I don't mind at all," Ty replied.  
  
They were about to enter the locker room when Ty stopped to read some new posters that had been put up on the wall.  
  
"I'll just be a minute, go ahead Faith,"he said to her.  
  
Faith glanced at her watch.  
  
It was only 2:20.  
  
"Nah there's time, and besides if Bosco is in  
  
there I am in no hurry to go in," she joked.  
  
Bosco had finally stopped getting sick, more like he had willed himself to stop, after puking all over the floor.  
  
He was gonna have to clean up all this mess real soon before someone walked in on him.  
  
Bosco rushed out of the stall and grabbed a bunch of paper towels to clean with and a trash can that was sitting by the sinks.  
  
Bosco went back into the stall and started wiping up all the puke on the floor.  
  
He took toilet paper and cleaned off the seat, careful not to overflow the toilet.  
  
The last thing he needed was for a puke filled toilet to flood everywhere.  
  
Bosco examined the floor.  
  
It looked clean enough to him, he thought, as he carried the garbage can back out to the locker room.  
  
He quickly tried to wipe off his pants legs with wet paper towels but it was not working, just making an even bigger mess than before.  
  
"As long as it just looks wet," Bosco thought, "and you cant tell its puke."  
  
What Bosco didn't realize though was that the entire locker room smelled like vomit after his little episode.  
  
He couldn't smell it because he had been around it for so long now.  
  
Bosco looked at his watch.  
  
2:20 P.M.  
  
People would be coming in for the shift soon.  
  
Bosco wished he could just lie down and go to sleep.  
  
"Where is Faith? " he thought as he sat down on the bench in front of his locker.  
  
"She must be pissed because she didn't follow me into the locker room," he thought.  
  
He was going to have to kiss her ass for the whole shift after the way he acted earlier.  
  
Ty and Faith were reading the wall when Faith suddenly remembered that Lieu wanted to see Bosco.  
  
"Crap" she said, "I'm goin in Ty, I forgot to tell Bosco that Lieu needs to see him, Faith said as she turned to go into the locker room.  
  
Bosco opened his locker to look for some clean pants.  
  
There were none.  
  
"Whatever," he thought too sick and tired to even care anymore.  
  
"Maybe I should just go home," he thought.  
  
He had a couple of sick days he was sure, shoot, he probably had them all; he never got sick.  
  
Bosco lay back on the bench and closed his eyes.  
  
He was so tired he didn't even hear Faith walk in. 


	14. Chapter 14 Can he hide it much longer?

Chapter 14  
  
"Bosco."  
  
He opened his eyes.  
  
Faith was standing over him.  
  
Bosco blinked a couple of times, then turned and sat up do that he was looking at Faith.  
  
"Bosco, Lieu wants you in his office," Faith said to him as she headed over to her locker.  
  
"OK Thanks," Bosco replied standing up slowly.  
  
"Boz is everything OK with you?" Faith asked him.  
  
"Yea why?" he said, rubbing his eyes.  
  
His head was starting to really pound again.  
  
"Why? Because you just haven't been acting like yourself yesterday and today and if something is going on that is gonna affect us then I need to know," she responded.  
  
"I'm fine Faith, nothing is going on," he whispered hoarsely as he headed out the door to the Lieutenant's office.  
  
Faith knew better though.  
  
She had been around Bosco long enough to sense that something was going on with him, and she was not gonna put up with his crap for long.  
  
She was gonna find out what the hell his problem was today or else he was gonna be riding alone for the rest of the week.  
  
Faith sat down at her locker.  
  
As much as she wanted to be pissed off at Bosco for acting like an ass all day, Faith had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that something just wasn't right at all with Bosco.  
  
Luckily for Bosco, he wasn't in any trouble, all that Lieu had wanted was to ask him was if he was interested in pulling a double shift that night, with the second one running Narcotics around town for a big raid they were setting up.  
  
Surprisingly to the Lieutenant Bosco declined, politely, saying that he needed to catch up on some sleep but if they still needed help tomorrow he was willing to do it then.  
  
Lieu was dumbfounded.  
  
Bosco was one of, of not the most glory hungry, dedicated cops in his precinct, willing to help out anyone anytime, especially when it came to other departments, and declining a chance to work with narcotics on a case meant that something was wrong.  
  
Lieu made a mental note to talk to Faith about him after roll call.  
  
Bosco went back into the locker room to finish getting ready for shift before roll call and tried like hell to ignore both Faith and his stomach, which was grumbling so loud he thought for sure someone was gonna notice.  
  
He stuck his head in his locker, pretending to be looking for something when Ty came over to him and started talking.  
  
"Hey, Bosco you notice that weird smell in here?" Ty said, "It smells to me like a bar bathroom, like puke, but no one else seems to notice, if you smell it then I know I am not going nuts," he joked.  
  
"Huh, no I don't smell anything Davis, what are you talking about?" Bosco lied.  
  
Bosco was already agitated and didn't want anyone finding out that it was he would had caused the smell in the bathroom!  
  
"Well, you were in here earlier so I thought maybe you had seen something," Davis responded.  
  
"Nah man, no one was in here."  
  
Bosco immediately stopped himself.  
  
"I mean I didn't see anything at all, Sorry" he said to Davis.  
  
When Bosco said that, Faith looked over at him.  
  
"He is not telling Davis something," Faith thought.  
  
Bosco never stumbles over words unless he is lying through his teeth or trying to pull one over on someone.  
  
The only thing is, it was so subtle that Davis didn't notice.  
  
No one knew her partner like she did.  
  
All the little things.  
  
Faith's brain started kicking into high gear.  
  
"It does kind of smell bad in here," she thought, "more than its usual nasty locker room smell."  
  
"Bosco was in here all by himself earlier, and he had been so sick yesterday in the alley."  
  
It was all starting to make sense to Faith now.  
  
"He must have gotten sick at the restaurant too," Faith thought, "and that explains why he drove like a madman to get here."  
  
Bosco was sick and he was trying to act like he wasn't and hide it.  
  
Well, his little acting days were over now that Faith had a clue about it.  
  
Faith sighed.  
  
She actually felt really bad for him.  
  
She never understood why some men couldn't admit weakness when they were sick or hurt, they always ended up running themselves into the ground and becoming even worse than they started out at.  
  
Well, Faith wasn't about to let that happen to Bosco, more for her sanity than anything else, but she had seen him deal with enough pain in his day, and didn't want that to happen to him again.  
  
She looked at him in roll call-he looked really pale and listless.  
  
Well, he was usually pale, Faith chuckled to herself, for being Italian he didn't have much color, but he still didn't look like himself today.  
  
"Faith I need to speak with you" The Lieutenant said as roll call started to break up.  
  
"I'll get the radios and be in the car" Bosco said to Faith as he breezed by her, eager to avoid the confrontation he knew was inevitable.  
  
"Faith I'll make this quick" Lieu said to her.  
  
"It's about Bosco-is he all right?" I sense that something is going on there."  
  
"Yea Lieu, he's OK" Faith replied, not wanting to give too much away but kind of startled that the Lieutenant had even noticed. "I think he is just tired, I am sure he will be fine."  
  
"OK, because he turned down the opportunity for a double shift tonight with the Narcotics squad by personal request, and that is more than a little unusual for him" Lieu said, "I just wanted to make sure everything was all right with you two."  
  
Faith was stunned.  
  
"Yea Lieu I'll keep my eye on him," she replied "Thanks," and with that she left the room.  
  
Faith walked out to the RMP concerned that whatever was going on with Bosco was possibly more serious than she had originally thought.  
  
For Bosco to turn down another department's request for help was unheard of, especially narcotics, with whom he had close ties since his brother got popped a couple of times selling dope in their precinct last year.  
  
Bosco was sitting in the passenger's side of the car, another sign to Faith that something was up, because they always split the driving, and she had driven yesterday too even though it was Bosco's day to drive.  
  
Faith got into the driver's side, and started the car.  
  
For what was possibly the first time since she had met him, Faith was unsure how to approach talking to Bosco, and he sure wasn't talking, so they started the shift in silence. 


	15. Chapter 15 Bosco finally comes clean to

chapter 15  
  
The car ride wasn't as bas as Bosco had expected, Faith didn't hit as many bumps or drive as fast as Bosco which, for once, he was thankful for.  
  
Bosco was, however starting to feel sicker overall with each minute that went by, and was seriously considering just telling Faith and having her drive him home so that he could take the rest of the day off sick.  
  
His head was pounding so badly that he kept his eyes shut and his head back on the headrest.  
  
They continued to drive in silence.  
  
Bosco's stomach was staring to act up again, no doubt as a result of the tension in the car as well as the lunch he had scarfed down earlier.  
  
Bosco just sat still and prayed that he would make it through the day.  
  
Faith couldn't take the silence.  
  
It had been over an hour with no calls and not one word out of Bosco's mouth.  
  
Bosco did not know realize, but Faith had a plan to get him to talk to her.  
  
She was driving them to an old abandoned lot near the river that they often went to when they were looking to lay low for a while.  
  
Faith was gonna go crazy if this lasted much longer and was about to stop the car and confront him, when he spoke.  
  
"Faith can you pull over?" he asked her softly, "I need..."Bosco stopped.  
  
"What?" she asked him, startled that he had spoken, "What do you need Boz?"   
  
He had spoken so quietly that she hadn't heard the rest of what he said.  
  
She pulled the car over under a bridge that was at the front of the abandoned lot.  
  
It was a great place to sit unnoticed.  
  
Bosco got out of the car.  
  
Faith turned off the car and got out too, thinking that this was gonna turn into a heated argument.  
  
"Faith," Bosco said.  
  
He was leaning against the side of the car door, his head down and his arms folded tightly across his stomach.  
  
He looked like he was in pain.  
  
Bosco knew that he couldn't keep this up much longer and had decided to just tell Faith the truth about what was going on.  
  
At least then maybe she would cut him some play.  
  
Faith walked around to his side of the RMP and leaned up against the side next to Bosco.  
  
"What's up Boz?" she asked him.  
  
Bosco felt his stomach flip.  
  
Why was it so hard for him to tell Faith that he wasn't feeling well, it wasn't like a big deal or anything, he didn't have cancer, just a touch of the stomach flu, Bosco figured?  
  
"Faith...I..." Bosco ran over to the side of the underpass and started to get sick.  
  
The rest of lunch had decided to revisit in the most unpleasant way.  
  
Bosco heaved again.  
  
There wasn't much left in him and this made him start coughing really hard.  
  
Faith was immediately at his side.  
  
"Faith..."Bosco coughed, "I...I don't feel so good."   
  
He finally had said it.  
  
"I think...I think I have...the stomach flu or something" he finally got out.  
  
Bosco was shaking all over.  
  
He dry heaved again.  
  
Faith put her hand on his back but all she felt was his vest underneath his shirt.  
  
"Boz why didn't you just say something back at the house?" Faith asked him, "Were you sick earlier too? Did you get sick in the locker room?"  
  
"Uh huh" he whispered.  
  
Bosco wiped his mouth off on his shirt sleeve and stood up.  
  
He turned and headed back to the RMP, opened up the back door and lay down on the seat.  
  
He put his arm over his eyes, mostly because the light was really bothering them but also so that Faith couldn't see his face.  
  
"Bosco I am taking you back to the house." Faith said as she stood looking at him.  
  
"You need to go home" She grabbed her radio, "55 David to central..."  
  
"No! Faith, I will be all right", Bosco snapped; "Faith, please", he said, taking his arm away and looking at her.  
  
Bosco sat up straight and looked at Faith.  
  
He pleaded to her with his eyes.  
  
His hair was so stuck to his forehead and staring to make little curls where it was matted down.  
  
He looked really bad to her, but Faith knew that Bosco hated any type of attention brought to himself, so she backed down, for now.  
  
"Disregard central" she said into her two way.  
  
Faith reached over and felt Bosco's cheeks.  
  
He wasn't just hot, he was on fire.  
  
"Damn Bosco you are burning up," she said to him as she took her hand off his cheek.  
  
"Let me at least take you to Mercy so that they can give you some fluids and get your fever down," she said to Bosco, "I think that you might be dehydrated from getting so sick all day."  
  
"No ... no way Faith" Bosco replied.  
  
He was starting to regret ever having said anything to her in the first place.  
  
"I just need to sleep" he said to her, "It's nothing."  
  
She could see the anger in his eyes starting to build and didn't want to get into a huge fight with him, yet Faith knew that Bosco needed more than a good night of sleep now.  
  
Bosco lay back down on the seat, feeling incredibly nauseous and worn out.  
  
He was feeling so bad that he almost wished faith would just handcuff him and take him to the damn hospital, but part of him didn't want to go there still, too many bad things happened there.  
  
Faith walked to the back of the squad and popped the trunk.  
  
They kept a first aid kit back there and maybe she could find something in it to help Bosco feel better.  
  
Faith came back with a thermometer, some Tylenol and a bottle of water.  
  
"Bosco, let me take your temperature" Faith said, "you feel really hot to me."  
  
There were at least ten good comebacks that Bosco could think of for that one, yet he was so tired, couldn't even muster up the energy to respond right now.  
  
He sat up and let Faith play doctor for a minute, anything to avoid getting poked and prodded by the real thing.  
  
Faith put the thermometer in Bosco's ear, it was one of those digital kind for kids who couldn't sit still.  
  
"Perfect" Faith thought, amused that she thought of Bosco as a little kid.  
  
Faith noticed that Bosco was still shivering, yet it wasn't really cold out and he had on a long sleeve uniform today.   
  
In three seconds the thermometer beeped at her, she took it out of his ear and was completely stunned when she saw what it was reading. 


	16. Chapter 16 Can Bosco make it through the

Chapter 16  
  
Faith looked down at the thermometer with wide eyes.  
  
Bosco's temperature was reading F 103.5!  
  
No, that cannot be right, Faith thought, and turned the thing off then back on again.  
  
She put it in Bosco's ear again, the other ear this time and told him to stay still a second.  
  
"C'mon Faith," Boz complained, "What are you doing?"  
  
Faith took the thermometer out again and read it.  
  
Still 103.5 degrees.  
  
"Damn Bosco you are really burning up," Faith said, "I am taking you to Mercy whether you like it or not, you are running a fever of 103.5 Boz, that's not something to take lightly, you could be really sick."  
  
Faith grabbed him by the sleeves and pulled him out of the back seat.  
  
"Get in," she said as she opened the passenger side door to the RMP.  
  
Bosco got into the car but did not shut the door.  
  
"You cant make me go there Faith," he said to her with an annoyed tone.  
  
Bosco hated hospitals and everything to do with them and was not about to let Faith drag him to one for some stupid bout out the flu.  
  
"Like hell I cant," she replied getting really annoyed herself.  
  
Faith pulled out her cell phone and started dialing a number.  
  
"Who are you calling?" Bosco asked her.  
  
Faith just glared at him.  
  
"Faith who the hell are you calling?" Bosco asked again as she walked away from his door to the side of the bridge where he was out of earshot.  
  
"Hello Doc, its Faith...Yokas yea...hey listen are you guys on a call right now? "   
  
"OK Well I kind of need a big favor if you don't mind."  
  
Faith liked Doc and trusted him to be discreet with the situation at hand.  
  
She knew that he would be honest and tell Bosco and herself exactly what was going on with him.  
  
"Can you come to the old abandoned lot by the river...yea that's the place, we are just under the bridge here...yea it's a medical issue...no I'm, fine Doc, its not me its Bosco...no bells and whistles ya know...OK then see you soon, Thanks Doc," and with that Faith hung up her cell phone.   
  
Faith walked back over to where Bosco, who was still in the car, too tired to have even followed her to find out what she was up to.  
  
He had his eyes closed and his head back again and Faith could see the beads of sweat all across his forehead.  
  
Faith was really worried.  
  
If one of her kids or Fred was running a fever that high and throwing up as much as Bosco had, she would most likely be on her way to the nearest hospital.  
  
Faith looked up as she heard Doc's bus approaching.  
  
She called Bosco's name but he did not reply.  
  
"Boz ... hey Bosco" Faith shook him lightly.  
  
Bosco slowly opened his eyes and mumbled something, then closed his eyes again and was back asleep.  
  
Faith walked over to where Doc had pulled up.  
  
He was riding with Kim today and Faith was at least glad for that because she knew that if it was Carlos the whole of the 55 would soon hear about Bosco getting sick.  
  
"Hey Doc," Faith said, "thanks for coming so quickly," she said as he stepped out of the bus.  
  
"Sure now what is the problem?" Doc replied, "You said something about Bosco being sick? What happened?"  
  
"Yea he's just over there" Faith motioned to the car.  
  
Kim walked around to meet Doc and Faith.  
  
"Hey Faith" she said.  
  
"Hey Kim" she replied, "Look I really appreciate you guys coming all quietly and everything, I know this isn't exactly regulation."  
  
Faith looked at Doc with a little concern, he was always one to follow the rules and she didn't want to get anyone in trouble here.  
  
"Well, I think that Bosco is really sick ... something's really wrong with him" Faith said before walking over to the squad car; "and he doesn't know you are coming, he's asleep in the car and he's...well he thinks he is fine, just coming down with the flu, but I think its more serious so that's why I called you guys."  
  
Faith continued, "He has been acting weird for a couple of days now."  
  
"More weird than usual?" Kim joked.  
  
Faith glared at her and Kim instantly regretted saying it.  
  
"He is just not himself at all and I just have a bad feeling about this," Faith went on, "I took his temperature and it is 103.5 and he cant stop throwing up, he has been getting sick for two days ... that I know of" Faith added.  
  
"I tried to get him to go to Mercy and he wont listen to me, I think that he is really dehydrated...well you will see," Faith said, and started to head over to the RMP.  
  
They all walked over to the passenger side of the car where Bosco was.  
  
He still had his eyes closed, and was asleep.  
  
"Oh my God," Kim said when she saw Bosco's face, all sweaty and flushed.  
  
She put her hand on Bosco's forehead.  
  
He flinched but did not wake up.  
  
"Doc, he's burning up, really badly," Kim said, "we are gonna need to start an IV drip."  
  
"Bosco...Bosco wake up, its Kim," she said as Doc opened the medic bag in front of him.  
  
Kim took hold of Bosco's arm to start the IV, and when she did, Bosco immediately jumped and on instinct reached for his gun, knocking Kim over in the process.  
  
"Wha...what the hell" Bosco recovered to see Kim on the ground in front of him.  
  
"What are you doing?" he said to Kim as she stood up.  
  
Bosco looked up and saw Doc standing next to Faith and immediately got on the defensive.  
  
"Whoa, what's going on here?" he asked, sure that faith was up to something.  
  
He wanted to get out of the car, but he just didn't have the strength.  
  
"Bosco relax, I asked Doc to come and take a look at you since you refused to let me take you over to Mercy," Faith said, "don't even think about gettin outta this one Boz, you are gonna let them check you out if I have to put a gun to your head to do it."  
  
Bosco relented, he didn't have much of a choice, plus he thought if Doc and Kim could make him feel even a little bit better then it was worth the trouble.  
  
"I'm gonna put this IV in your arm to re-hydrate you Bosco, and its gonna pinch a little when the needle goes in OK?" Kim said to him, the concern plainly heard in her voice.  
  
Doc was busy checking Bosco over, looking in his eyes with a mini flashlight and questioning the heck out of him about the last two days, what he had eaten or done differently, and when his symptoms had started to develop, and what exactly they all were.  
  
"When did this fever start Bosco?" Doc asked.  
  
"I don't know...yesterday maybe...OWW" Bosco yelped as Kim stuck the needle into his arm.  
  
"Are you having chills and sweats?" Doc asked.  
  
"Yes," Bosco answered, sick of hiding the truth anymore.  
  
"Any diarrhea or blurred vision, passing out?" Doc kept questioning Bosco.  
  
"No," Bosco answered but that blurred vision thing," Bosco paused.  
  
"Yea, Bosco are you having trouble seeing?" Doc asked with concern in his voice.  
  
"Well, no, not exactly but the light...it hurts my eyes every now and then," he said, to the surprise of Faith.  
  
She hadn't noticed anything wrong with his eyes but didn't see how that could be relevant to Bosco being sick.  
  
"What about anything else unusual?" said Doc.  
  
"No...I ...I dot know," Bosco said losing energy fast.  
  
"I am very concerned Bosco, you need to be looked at by a doctor, for these types of symptoms to appear this fast and this severe, its not a good thing," Doc said to him.  
  
Faith was standing next to Doc and bent down to Bosco's level.  
  
"Boz please let them take you in to Mercy, please Bosco" Faith all but begged him.  
  
She was starting to really get scared about what was going on, especially since Doc, the most trusted and quite possibly the best paramedic in the city thought that it was this serious.  
  
Bosco shook his head.  
  
He leaned his head back and closed his eyes again.  
  
Kim had finished putting the IV into Bosco's arm and he could feel the fluid running into him.  
  
The solution going into him made Bosco feel warm, and slightly better than he had before, but he was nowhere near normal.  
  
"OK, it should be about 20 minutes for this to run all the way through" Kim said to Faith, but knowing that Bosco could hear her as well.  
  
"Faith can I see you over here for a minute?" Doc asked her as he stood up and walked away from the squad car. 


	17. Chapter 17 Doc and Kim try to help Bosco

Chapter 17  
  
Faith followed Doc over to the bus.  
  
She could see the concern al over his face.  
  
"Look Faith I understand that Bosco hates hospitals and is hesitant to go there, but he really needs to", Doc said "I am not a real Doctor but i can tell you that Bosco is a very very sick man right now."  
  
Doc put his hand on Faith's arm, "I am afraid that if he does not go in and get checked out, find out what is wrong with him, then it is going to turn into a really bad situation for Bosco really fast," Doc finished.  
  
"OK, listen Doc, I am gonna do everything in my power to make him go in, he is so stubborn and...I just don't know...I mean he HATES the dr. when he just needs like a couple of stitches, and he has to know that they are gonna run a bunch of tests on him if he goes in now" said Faith.  
  
"I know he listens to me some of the time but this is gonna be really hard; I will try my hardest Doc, and listen I really appreciate you and Kim coming out here like this to help him, and i know he isn't gonna say it to you but i know that does too."  
  
Faith and Doc walked back over to Kim and Bosco at the RMP.  
  
Bosco still had his eyes closed and looked like he was asleep.  
  
"How's he doin?" Faith asked Kim.  
  
"Well, he hasn't moved, but the (saline)bag is almost done and that should help him at least feel a little stronger, I don't think his fever has gone down any though and that is not a good thing Faith", Kim said to her.  
  
"Bosco", Faith bent down to his level," hey how ya feelin?"  
  
Bosco opened his eyes.  
  
They were all glassy and he struggled to focus for a minute.  
  
"Like a million bucks", he said when he saw it was Faith, "and you know Faith, thanks for dragging these two into this" he said sarcastically.  
  
"Look Bosco..."Faith stopped.  
  
"Look I"m not gonna argue with you about this anymore OK? Is the IV helping you any?" she asked him.  
  
Faith was in no mood to argue with Bosco.  
  
She had been busting her ass for the past two days to make up for his slack, and was exhausted, not to mention all of the worrying had her mentally worn out too.  
  
"Yea I actually feel OK" Bosco replied, but he was not telling the truth.  
  
The truth was, he actually felt so horrible that he felt like he could cry.  
  
He wondered how much longer they had on shift, because his bed was calling him, he had never wanted to go home so badly in his life.  
  
Bosco felt like he could sleep for a week, he just wanted to go home and crash, his body feeling like it had just gone though war and lost, but he was certainly not about to tell Faith that.  
  
Kim had come back over to Bosco and was starting to take the IV out of his arm when all of a sudden the radio went off.  
  
Adam 5-5-3 respond to a possible child abduction and beating..."  
  
"55 Charlie and 55 David respond to a domestic disturbance...possible child abduction..."   
  
Faith could hear their radio going off too, the same address as Doc and Kim, "at least they were going to the same place", she thought, then if something happened to Bosco, they would be right there.  
  
Kim quickly finished up on Bosco as Faith got in the driver's side of the car.  
  
"You good to go Boz? Cos if you cant handle this then i will call us out" she said to him.  
  
He shook his head no, "Go Faith I am fine", he responded, domestic abuse, especially when a child was involved always got his juices flowing.  
  
"55 David responding" Faith said over the sirens and they were all soon pulling out of the old abandoned lot to the call. 


	18. Chapter 18 Something happens to Boz on a

Chapter 18  
  
Kim and Doc pulled up to the apartment building just in front of Faith and Bosco.  
  
They got out of their car and headed up to the door.  
  
"Let us go in first Doc, just in case," Faith said.  
  
Faith looked at Bosco, who seemed a little dazed.  
  
"Bosco are you sure you're OK?" Faith asked him, "Because we could have a situation here, and i need to know that you are OK"  
  
"Uh huh I am fine Faith" Bosco replied, feeling really lightheaded.  
  
He knew that he probably should have told Faith the truth but it was too late now.  
  
"OK then lets go in" Faith said as they headed up the stairs.  
  
Bosco got to the top of the stairs first and luckily someone was exiting the building so they didn't have to wait to be buzzed in.  
  
"5C" Faith said, "Lets take the stairs."  
  
Bosco was right behind Faith until about the third floor, when he started to get really nauseous and lightheaded.  
  
He stopped for a second forgetting that Kim and Doc were right behind him.  
  
"You OK Bosco?" Kim asked him when she saw him stop.  
  
"Yea I'm fine," Bosco answered, and quickly started running up the remaining two flights of stairs.  
  
When they reached the 55th floor they could hear yelling down the hallway.  
  
Faith stopped and turned around to look at Bosco.  
  
He was breathing really heavily and looked like crap.  
  
Faith brushed it off as herself worrying too much again; "He said he was fine, " she thought, and proceeded down the hall to 5C.  
  
They went up to 5C and knocked loudly on the door.  
  
"POLICE OPEN UP" Bosco shouted through the noise behind the apartment door.  
  
Bosco and Faith both had their hands on their weapons, ready to draw of they needed to.  
  
"Doc, Kim, you guys stay right behind us OK?" Faith said to them as someone started to open the door.  
  
It was a young woman, about mid 30's that answered the door.  
  
"Thank God you are here," she said, "my ex-husband, he's gone crazy, he's trying to take my kids. I have full custody," she continued," the bastard cant take them away from me" she was yelling now.  
  
"Ma'am is he in the house?" Bosco asked her as he stepped inside the doorway.  
  
"Yea he's in the kitchen, around the corner there" the woman replied.  
  
"Can we come in? Is anyone hurt?" Faith asked the lady.  
  
'No but there will be some hurtin if he tries to take my kids" the woman said to Faith.  
  
Faith looked right back at Doc and Kim.  
  
"We'll be right here Faith," Doc said to her, reading her thoughts.  
  
Bosco was already inside the apartment heading down the hallway to the kitchen as Faith stepped inside the door.  
  
"Hello? Sir? Police, we just want to talk," Bosco said loudly as he slowly turned the corner into the kitchen.  
  
Bosco silently prayed that this call would be quick and easy, not the usual long drawn out pain in the ass domestic calls they usually ended up with.  
  
He was starting to feel worse and worse with every minute that went by.  
  
His head was swimming and he couldn't shake the dizzy feeling he was having.  
  
"I thought that freakin IV Kim stuck in my arm was supposed to help me," Bosco thought as he entered the kitchen.  
  
Bosco saw the ex-husband standing at the counter with a knife in his hand.  
  
He immediately drew his gun.  
  
"Put down the knife Sir" he said to the man.  
  
  
  
Faith entered the kitchen with the ex-wife who started shouting again as soon as she saw the knife.  
  
Bosco couldn't handle this...not now...not today...  
  
"Put down the knife right now and get your damn hands up or i WILL shoot you right here" Bosco yelled at the man.  
  
The man must have really thought Bosco wasn't kidding because he put the knife down on the counter and raised his hands in the air.  
  
"Faith could you? Bosco asked her as he motioned to the man.  
  
"Yea sure Boz" Faith said as she handcuffed the man and read him his rights.  
  
Faith glanced over at Bosco, who looked as white as a ghost.  
  
Bosco swayed a little and grabbed the counter, and Faith thought he looked like he was about to pass out.  
  
  
  
"Doc Doc I need you in here," Faith shouted, and as she turned back around Bosco fell to the ground in a heap.  
  
"Oh my God Bosco!" Faith yelled as she ran over to her partner.  
  
"Bosco talk to me please Boz," she begged him as Doc and Kim made their way into the kitchen.  
  
Faith didn't think that he had been hurt by this man, she didn't hear any shots or see that he had gotten stabbed, and he made no indication to her that he was hurt, so she started to freak out a little.  
  
"What the hell happened?" Kim asked as Doc gently turned Bosco onto his back.  
  
"I. I don't know...one second he was fine and the next thing he was on the floor." Faith answered Kim.  
  
"Bosco...Bosco can your hear me it's Doc?" Doc asked Bosco as he felt for a pulse.  
  
Bosco opened his eyes and looked around.  
  
What...where's the perp? did...did he get away?" Bosco asked, clearly confused at the situation at hand.  
  
"Its OK Faith, I think that he just passed out" Doc said as he started to check all of Bosco's vitals, "Its not uncommon when you've lost so much fluids like he has the last couple of days for them to faint. His blood sugar is all out of place, and he is probably still dehydrated somewhat, so physical exertion like running up the stairs as Bosco just did can trigger this."  
  
Doc looked at Kim, "Get the gurney, we are taking him into Mercy."  
  
"NO WAY...NO CHANCE..." Bosco yelled as soon as he heard the word Mercy out of Doc's mouth.  
  
Boco tried to sit up but got really dizzy, and almost fell over.  
  
"I...I just need to eat something...blood sugar right Doc? You said it yourself...I have been a little sick so I am all messed up with the blood sugar" Bosco was rambling, not a clue what he was saying, only praying that it would get him out of going to Mercy.  
  
"I need to eat...with Faith...we will go get some dinner...right now" Bosco pleaded as he looked at Faith with those begging eyes.  
  
"OK all right, yea Doc, he'll be OK" Faith said although she was not quite sure that was the truth.  
  
Bosco was really starting to scare her, he never took sick like this, and she had never seen him so weak that he passed out.  
  
Bosco stood up slowly, so as not to pass out again or cause any of then to question his well being.  
  
"C'mon Jag-off lets go" he said, as he grabbed the ex-husband and headed out of the kitchen.  
  
We'll be in the RMP" Bosco said to Faith as he and the ex-husband walked out the door  
  
"OK, I'll finish up here with the woman" Faith replied, slightly annoyed that she was stuck to do the follow up with the ex wife, yet too concerned for Bosco to really be pissed off.  
  
While Faith finished up with the ex-wife and Doc and Kim checked out her and her kids, who had been hiding in the bedroom, and gave them all the OK.  
  
Doc, Kim, and Faith were all walking out together when faith stopped them; "listen you guys, thanks for all you did today...with Bosco, I really appreciate it" Faith said as they started to head to their bus.  
  
"Yea sure thing Faith" Kim said.  
  
"Faith you keep an eye on Bosco, a close eye," Doc said, "if you think he is getting any worse then you take him into Mercy, even if you have to arrest him to get him there," Doc smiled, yet Faith knew he was dead serious.  
  
"Thanks Doc, I will," she replied and opened the door to the RMP.  
  
Faith got into the car and slammed the door shut.  
  
"What the hell is wrong with you Bosco?" she yelled at him.  
  
"You pass out on me and you think that you are fine, I have to cover for your ass with them so that you don't have to go to the hospital?" Faith shouted at him, "I should have let them take you to Mercy."  
  
"Well, the next time you get sick in an alley, or at work, or feel the need to PASS OUT in the middle of an arrest don't expect me to come runnin with help" she laid it on him.  
  
Bosco just sat back and took every word that faith was throwing at him.  
  
Besides, he wasn't gonna die or anything, he was just sick, and he knew that no matter what he did or said, Faith would always be there for him...always. 


	19. Chapter 19 Home sweet Home Bed sweet Bed

Need to Sleep  
  
Ch 19  
  
OK to all the readers...Keep in mind, this story even though it has like 19 chapters, is NOT being dragged on, I am just really enjoying writing it!!! AND :) if you pay attention, this chapter is only the end of the second day, and so for those of you who know what is wrong with Bos and have asked me about it, you know that 2-3 days is a little long for this to go on, but this IS fiction after all! LOL THANKS!!! ENJOY!!!  
  
Bosco and Faith got back to the house, both thankful that the shift was finally over.  
  
They headed to the locker room in silence and changed into street clothes, eager to get home.  
  
Bosco was especially glad and could think of nothing but hitting the sheets.  
  
He stood up slowly and made his way to the door, feeling Faith's eyes on him as he walked.  
  
"See you tomorrow," he said to Faith, although he was not looking back at her.  
  
"Yea, get some rest huh Boz," Faith said, relieved that the day was over for Bosco so that he could finally go home and get some rest and hopefully shake whatever has been wrong with him for the last two days.  
  
She didn't want to sound like the overprotective mother to Bosco, since everyone, including Bosco, already thought that she babied him too much, but Faith couldn't help the sinking feeling she had that something was really wrong.  
  
"Boz...if you need anything..."  
  
Bosco turned to look at her, cutting her of mid-sentence, "I'm fine Faith."  
  
"Call me OK just...if you need to..." and before she could even finish her sentence, Boscso had left the locker room.  
  
When Faith finally got home, she breathed a huge sigh, relieved to have the day over so that she could get some sleep herself.  
  
Her kids were both asleep and as she crawled into bed beside her husband and closed her eyes, her thoughts started to drift back to Bosco again.  
  
As much as she tried to block him out of her mind, Faith couldn't shake the worried feeling she had been having all day that something bad was happening to her partner.  
  
She squeezed her eyes shut and tried like hell to think of anything but Bosco.  
  
After about a half an hour, Faith finally fell asleep.  
  
When Bosco got home, it was to a quiet, dark apartment, and he couldn't have been happier about it.  
  
He was so relieved that this day was over, more than any other day that he could remember.  
  
He still felt like hell, in fact he was feeling so crappy that, as he made his way down the hall to his bedroom, he didn't even bother turning any lights on.  
  
Bosco half waked half stumbled to his room, taking his clothes off piece by piece as he went, and leaving them wherever they landed.  
  
He fell into his bed wearing just his boxers, wifebeater, and socks.  
  
Pulling the covers over himself, Bosco didn't even care if the chief of police was knocking on his door, he was not leaving his bed tonight for any reason, and as his head hit the pillow, Bosco was already asleep.  
  
At about 330AM Bosco woke from sleep, extremely agitated, sweaty and hot, and very thirsty.  
  
He reached over to grab the glass of water he usually kept by his bed, only to find that it wasn't there.  
  
Bosco remembered that after work, he had just fallen into bed, and done nothing else, and now groaned at having to walk all the way to the kitchen for a glass of water.  
  
He untangled himself from his bed, annoyed that he always had to wrestle with the sheets and comforter, and stood up to go into the kitchen.  
  
As he walked the short distance down the hallway to his kitchen, Bosco began to feel very nauseous and lightheaded, and had to grab on to the wall to steady himself.  
  
He realized that he hadn't really eaten anything in the last couple of days, and what he had eaten, he just threw it all up anyway, so it was no wonder his body was so weak and tired.  
  
Bosco shook his head, trying to clear the fogginess that was threatening to overtake him, but that only made him feel worse.  
  
He felt sick to his stomach, yet he had eaten nothing.  
  
Bosco flipped on the light switch so that he could see more clearly, but the light only hurt his eyes, so he turned it off again.  
  
Bosco was almost into the kitchen when he was overcome by the dizziness, and before he could turn around to sit down, he passed out.  
  
As he fell forward, Bosco's face slammed into the kitchen counter, knocking him out even further, and causing his lip to split open, blood gushing out everywhere.  
  
He had blood coming out of his lip, and his nose too, and Bosco's face was starting to swell up, but Bosco could not feel any of it, he was completely unconscious, lying in a heap on his kitchen floor.  
  
At about 345 AM Faith woke up from sleep suddenly.  
  
She wasn't sure what had startled her from sleep, so she climbed out of bed, went to check on her kids and the rest of the apartment, and go pee.  
  
Faith climbed back into bed, satisfied that all was well in her house, yet she still had a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach...something was not right.  
  
Little did Faith know that, a few blocks away, at Bosco's apartment, her partner lay unconscious, bloodied, and extremely sick on the floor of his kitchen, soon to be fighting for his life... 


	20. Chapter 20 Boscso goes home but it's not

Need to Sleep   
  
Chapter 20  
  
About two hours after he had passed out, around 545 AM, Bosco started to wake up, the light from his living room window slowly filtering through and casting light on the kitchen floor, near where he lay.  
  
He slowly tried to turn his body from his awkward position on the floor, to a somewhat sitting position, as he struggled to understand why he was in so much pain.  
  
Bosco looked down at his shirt and saw that, even though it was navy blue, it looked to be covered in what he thought was dried up blood.  
  
He looked at the floor and saw a pool of dried up blood was smeared into the floor where he had been lying.  
  
He opened his mouth to take a breath of air and as he did, felt the salty, sticky texture of dried up blood against his teeth.  
  
He ran his tongue over them and found them all in place thankfully, yet shuddered at the taste of his own blood, and the realization that something really bad must have happened to him.  
  
Bosco could not recall why exactly he was lying on his kitchen floor, let alone covered in blood, and in such bad pain that he thought he could puke right there.  
  
He tried to think.  
  
Had he gone out last night?   
  
NO!   
  
There was no way he would have.  
  
He remembered the shift and feeling so sick all he wanted was to go to bed.  
  
Did he end up going out to a bar, getting drunk and into a fight?   
  
He couldnt remember at all.  
  
That could be the only possible explanation, he thought, as he did have a bad little habit of getting into fights with patrons after having kicked back a few.  
  
That would certainly explain why he was in so much agony right now, that he felt like sticking his head in an ice box to relieve some of the misery and pain.  
  
Bosco couldn't remember the fighting, or the drinking, let alone how he even got home or passed out on his kitchen floor.  
  
All he knew that he was in serious pain, and feeling worse as the seconds went by.  
  
Grabbing the kitchen counter for support, Bosco pulled himself to a somewhat standing position, groaning loudly as the pain in his head intensified.  
  
He stood still for a few moments, trying to fight off the nausea and dizziness that was consuming him.  
  
Thinking he was about to hurl all over the place, Bosco rushed down the hall as fast as his body could take him, and into his bathroom.  
  
He was starting to get the cold sweats and shakes as he fell to his knees and leaned over the toilet bowl.  
  
Bosco started gagging and heaving into the toilet bowl, groaning in misery each time his body tried, and failed to rid itself of whatever was left in him.  
  
He could not understand why nothing was coming up, even though he felt as though he was about to puke up a lung.  
  
Considering the headache he had, and the hell he was currently experiencing , Bosco simply assumed that he had drank a lot the night before.  
  
Bosco sat on the floor of his bathroom, thinking maybe he hadn't drank that much after all, or maybe he had already gotten sick before this, and this was just the hell of a dry hangover kicking in.  
  
His face, neck and chest were covered in a thin film of sweat that was starting to overheat his body, coming through the tee shirt he had on and making it stick to him.  
  
His hair was sticking to his head as little beads of sweat started to accumulate around his upper lip and eyebrows too.  
  
Bosco felt like his whole body was burning up, not realizing that he really was, but he knew that he needed to get to his bed before he passed out again.  
  
He tried to stand up, unsuccessfully, and swayed, bracing himself on the seat of the toilet seat for a minute.  
  
Even though he was sweating like mad, Bosco was freezing cold, just like the other day, his delirious brain thought for a second, but he brushed it off,a crazy random thought, as he was still not ready to admit that something other than alcohol and someone's fists had happened to him last night.  
  
Bosco attempted standing again, shivering all over, dizzy, and so nauseous that he wasn't so sure that he should leave the toilet, in case he really did need to get sick.  
  
  
  
The taste of old blood in his mouth was making him feel extremely nauseous, not that he wasnt already, and his head was pounding so badly, that Bosco felt as though someone had just played steel drums on his head for the last two hours.  
  
He dragged himself over to the sink, and slowly pulled himself up to standing position in front of the mirror.  
  
He could hardly open his eyes fully, they hurt so much, and when he finally did and squinted into the mirror, the face he saw looking back at him was hardly recognizable.  
  
Bosco leaned in on the sink and stared hard into the mirror.  
  
He turned on the water and just stared into the mirror some more.  
  
The face that he saw was indeed his own, yet it was bloodied and bruised so badly it almost scared him because he couldn't remember what had happened.  
  
His upper lip was so fat, he looked like he had just gone ten rounds with a prize fighter, and Bosco saw that it was covered in dried up blood, as well as his nose and chin.  
  
He leaned in closer to the mirror and saw that his right eye was turning black and blue, puffy and so swollen, it was no wonder it hurt to open.  
  
He opened his mouth and gasped when he saw his blood stained teeth, immediately cupping his hands under the faucet to try and rinse his mouth out some.  
  
Bosco could hardly stand up anymore, the nausea and dizziness overtaking him, so he very quickly splashed some cold water on his face, trying to wash off some of the dried up blood there, then proceeded to stumble into his bedroom.  
  
It took all the strength that Bosco had left to pull off the now sweat soaked and blood ridden shirt he was wearing off of his torso before collapsing into his bed.  
  
Bosco rolled into his bed and pulled the covers up, not noticing that the purple blotches that he had seen on his chest the day before were getting worse now, and spreading out towards his stomach and back.  
  
All he could think about was the pain, the misery, what he did to deserve this hell he was going through right now.   
  
Bosco pulled the covers up around his neck as his body was wracked with shivers, yet he didnt even have the strength to go and get a dry, warm shirt to throw on, and at that moment he could care less.  
  
The last thought that Bosco had, as he succumbed to the delirium was maybe he should call Faith and tell her he wasn't feeling well, he might be getting the stomach flu... maybe he shouldn't come into work today...Maybe... 


	21. Chapter 21 Where's Bosco?

Need to Sleep   
  
Chapter 21  
  
It was 245 PM and Faith was sitting in the locker room getting ready for roll call which was in a few minutes, and wondering why Bosco chose to be late to work almost every day.  
  
She knew that it was getting close to the call and he would probably come rushing in at 255 like he usually did, busting ass to get ready and sneaking into the back of the roll call room.  
  
She smiled to herself...hmmmm...these little Bosco things that made him who he was...  
  
Even though she rarely admitted it, Faith couldn't have been more content with Bosco and all of his daily habits.  
  
At 305 though, there was still no sign of Bosco, and as Faith looked around the room she began to get a very uneasy feeling.  
  
He was late to roll call a lot, sure, usually only a few minutes after three, but rarely this late and Faith did not like it.  
  
She knew that he wasn't feeling well at all and remembering what Doc had said to her yesterday about really watching him, started to get really anxious that something bad had happened to her partner.  
  
As roll call broke up, Faith went up to the Lieutenant and ask if he knew where Bosco was.  
  
"Hey Lieu, did Bosco call in? Am I riding with someone else today?" she said, hoping that he was going to relieve her now fast growing worry over her partner.  
  
"No, Faith, he hasn't called in, We were just about to ask you that question, if you had heard from him."  
  
"I know he has a habit of being late Faith, but this is a little uncalled for," Lieu said, sounding a little annoyed, but not really because he knew that Bosco wouldn't miss roll call completely unless he had a really good reason.  
  
"Yea Lieu, I haven't heard from him either. I mean I know that he was not feeling well yesterday, and I just thought that maybe he had taken a sick day." Faith replied, not wanting to let on just how sick Bosco was yesterday.  
  
"OK Well, until your partner decides to show up, you are gonna ride with Davis, Sully can go solo, you'd better run out there and catch up with them to let them know."  
  
"OK Lieu, I will find out where he is, I will call him in a minute" Faith said, eager to get to the bottom of this situation at hand.  
  
As Faith walked out to get Ty, she grabbed her cell phone out of her pocket and dialed Bosco's number.  
  
It rang and rang until finally the answering machine came on, so she left a message," Bosco its Faith, if you are there, pick up please..." No answer so she hung up and figured she would call his cell phone after she caught up to Ty and Sully.  
  
"Hey Ty, Sully, wait up," she called after them as they were about to head out the door.  
  
"Listen, Lieu wants me to ride with you today Davis, Bosco is MIA right now and he says that until we find him you are gonna be with me and Sul you are gonna ride alone."  
  
Sully sighed, "Bosco is MIA? He probably got lost at some girl he went home with's house and couldn't find the way to work," he chuckled, always eager to bounce Bosco.  
  
"Well, whatever Sully, Davis you are still with me," Faith snapped back at him, slightly pissed because she knew that no matter what girl Bosco had ever picked up, it would not stop him from getting to work the next day.  
  
As they walked back to exchange radios, Ty couldn't help but notice how quiet Faith was being and sensed that there was a bigger beast involved here.  
  
"Hey Faith, is something going on with Bosco? Do you know why he is not here today?" he asked her, not wanting to pry into her business too much though and risk getting on her bad side all day.  
  
"Faith sighed, and as they headed outside she started to tell Ty all about the events of the last few days.  
  
"Damn" was all that Ty could think of to say as Faith told him about Bosco being sick, how Doc and Kim tried to help him, and the perp with the knife, and how Bosco passed out at that call.  
  
And as she was telling ty all of this, the bad thoughts kept building and building inside of her that something really bad had happened to Bosco.  
  
Faith could not take it anymore, she flipped open her cell phone and called Bosco's number again...still no answer.  
  
She tried his cell phone too but that just clicked right into voicemail.  
  
The stress and sick feeling Faith had now in the pit of her stomach were going to kill her if she had to think about this all day, so Faith quickly decided that they needed to go to Bosco's apartment to see if he happened to be there.  
  
She called it into the station, letting Lieu know what they were doing, and as she had expected, that was no problem at all.  
  
As they pulled up to Bosco's apartment building, Faith saw his car parked on the street and gasped, "Oh no that cant be good," she said to Ty, "his car is still here, if he was gonna go anywhere, he would take his car."  
  
They got out of the RMP and made their way up the steps to the front door of Bosco's building, Faith reaching into her pockets for the key.  
  
A long time ago, when Faith and Fred had been having marital problems, Bosco had given her a key, 'just in case,' he said, she ever needed it, and as she went to open the lock, she smiled at Ty, "Just in case, you know...," she said and he nodded.  
  
Faith was actually relieved that the key still worked, and as they made their way up the stairs, she silently prayed that maybe Bosco was simply so tired he had overslept, and forgotten to turn the alarm on.  
  
Ty and Faith reached his apartment finally and Faith thought that she should try knocking first, in case he was home and she was about to walk in on something inappropriate.  
  
After knocking four times to no reply, she put the key into the door and turned the handle.  
  
It was eerily quiet and somewhat dark inside, and as Faith and Ty stepped into the living room, Faith gave Ty a frown that read trouble, and they both on instinct put their hands on their guns as they made their way into the kitchen area.  
  
"Bosco? Boz are you here?" Faith called out to him, but she got no reply.  
  
She was about to turn and go down the hallway when Ty called her into the kitchen, "Faith I think you should come and look at this," he said, and as she walked towards him, her mouth fell open.  
  
There on the floor of the kitchen was a pool of dried up blood, that looked like it had been smeared.   
  
Faith's mouth fell open, and she instantly turned around and started to head to his bedroom, "Oh my God, Oh My God," she kept saying over and over as Ty followed her down to Bosco's bedroom.  
  
As she opened the door to Bosco's bedroom, Faith immediately knew that something was wrong.  
  
She couldn't see him, but she could feel the heat radiating from the room, and saw what she assumed to be Bosco all tangled up in the comforter in a heap.  
  
"Bosco, Oh my God, Bosco?" she cried out to him, as she ran over to the bed and pulled off the covers.  
  
It wasn't easy, because he was all wrapped up in them, but when Faith finally did get them off him, the room fell silent as Ty and Faith both looked at the battered bruised and practically lifeless body of Maurice Boscorelli before them. 


	22. Chapter 22 Under the covers

Need to Sleep  
  
OK sorry it took me so long to update, I am having a really crappy week!!! This is a mini chapter and I know that everyone wants more,  
  
and I promise that I will get to it this weekend if I can!!! Thanks for reading!!  
  
Chapter 22  
  
It took only a split second before faith was frantically hovering over her partner, desperate to find out what was wrong with him.  
  
"Call it in Davis" 10-13... Get a bus now" she cried as she placed her hands on Bosco's bruised torso.  
  
Ty called in the emergency as Faith tried talking to Bosco.  
  
"Bosco, Boz wake up," she pleaded with him as she gently shook his shoulder.  
  
Bosco did not respond.  
  
Faith put her hand on his forehead but already knew that he was burning up from the sweat all over his body.  
  
"Oh my God Ty get... go get a washcloth with cold water on it," Faith said as she examined the dried up blood on Bosco's face.  
  
She was not sure what had happened to him, but it looked as though he had been hit in the face.  
  
Faith was confused because she knew that Bosco was in no condition to have gone out the night before, he had felt so bad.  
  
When Ty returned with the washcloth, Faith began wiping his face and forehead, trying to get Bosco to come around.  
  
He started groaning and breathing heavily, tossing and turning on the bed, and as Faith tried to calm him down, he finally opened his eyes to reality.  
  
"Bosco, help is on the way, OK just lie down, don't move" Faith said, not wanting to cause Bosco any more pain than he appeared to be in.  
  
Bosco struggled to talk, "Fa...Faith ... what...I ...what is going on?"  
  
"Relax Boz, the bus is on the way, they are gonna take good care of you, you are gonna be fine," Faith tried to sound convincing.  
  
"What the hell happened to your chest? Did someone beat you up Boz? Your face..." Faith didn't want to push it too hard though.  
  
"N...No... I... I passed out...in the kitchen" Bosco stammered, the words not coming to him easily anymore.  
  
"Faith...I...theres something really wrong with me" Bosco continued, taking deep ragged breaths as he spoke, "I feel...I feel like I am dying...so bad...," he trailed off.  
  
"Shhh its OK, just be quiet, they are almost here," Faith soothingly said as she continued to wipe Bosco's forehead with the washcloth.  
  
She looked down at Bosco, and then had to turn away, he looked so bad, so scared, like a child, and it was more than Faith could stand.  
  
Faith stood up and walked over to the dresser and started looking for some pants and a shirt to throw on Bosco when the medics arrived.  
  
Just then, the buzzer to his apartment sounded and Ty quickly went to let the medics in.  
  
"Here Boz let me help you put these on," Faith said to Bosco as she grabbed a pair of basketball shorts from Bosco's dresser drawer.  
  
Bosco lay still on the bed, as he was running out of whatever energy he had left, and fast.  
  
He just groaned a reply, which Faith took as a yes, even though she couldn't understand it, as Faith started to pull the shorts onto Bosco's legs.  
  
He had just finished pulling the shorts over his hips when Kim and Doc walked in along with four other cops from the precinct.  
  
A 10-13 at the home of one of their own was not something the department took lightly, and Faith knew that it would only be a matter of time before the whole 5-5 knew about Bosco's condition.  
  
Whatever that was... 


	23. Chapter 23 To the hospital we go

Chapter 23  
  
disclaimer: yea bows head down to NBC...i wish BOSCO was mine...  
  
OK so I'm no doctor and am too busy to go looking up all the correct medical terms so just go with the flow here people if it sounds corny!!! Thanks :)  
  
"Over here quickly" Faith said as Doc and Kim entered the room.  
  
"What happened Faith?" Doc asked as he started to assess the condition of her partner.  
  
"I wish I could tell you Doc, he didn't show up for work today so we came here looking for him and found him like this." Faith replied.  
  
"It looks like he got beat up or something" faith said to Doc, motioning to the purple marks all over Bosco's stomach and chest.  
  
"No, those aren't bruises Faith, that is a sign of a serious illness internally, something else is going on" Doc replied.  
  
Faith gasped, "Oh God I am so sorry...I should have let you take him into Mercy yesterday," Faith cried, as she watched Doc hook Bosco up to all kinds of monitors.  
  
Doc quickly worked him up, determining that Bosco was going into shock from the stress to his body, and had a dangerously high temperature, which would explain his delirious behavior.  
  
"He is non responsive" Doc shouted, "we need to get him outta here now" he said to Kim, as they got Bosco onto the stretcher.  
  
They all got outside, and Kim and Doc loaded Bosco onto the bus, with Faith close behind.  
  
"I'm gonna ride with him" Faith called to Ty.  
  
"Yea, see you at the hospital" Ty called back, suddenly wishing that Sully was with him, and he was not alone.  
  
In the back of the bus, Faith sat next to Doc, with tears in her eyes, as she looked down at her partner, unconscious and helpless, snd she cursed herself for not doing something earlier.  
  
"I knew it Doc" Faith whispered, "I knew that something was terribly wrong, I...I felt it and I still didn't do anything."   
  
The tears started to fall freely now from her eyes, as she let her emotions pour out.  
  
"Oh my God, what have I done? Is he gonna be OK? What do you think is wrong with him? Do you have any idea Doc?"  
  
"Whoa calm down a second Faith," Doc said as she kept talking and asking questions of him.  
  
"First of all, he is stable right now, and we will be at Mercy in a minute, and you know that he is going to get the best treatment there," Doc reassured Faith.  
  
"It could be any number of things, but its probably just a virus, that has invaded him internally" Doc explained to Faith, not wanting her know that he was afraid it was much worse than that though.  
  
They finally pulled up to Mercy and got Bosco out, the doctors all shocked that it was Mr. loud mouth obnoxious supercop.  
  
As he was wheeled into the trauma room, the doctors kept trying to ask Bosco, who was now drifting in and out of consciousness, what had happened to him in the last few days.  
  
He could not respond, only a moan now and then about something else that was in pain.  
  
They asked him if his neck hurt, he groaned yes, if his eyes hurt to the light, and he responded yes to that as well.  
  
Faith was right beside him the whole time, holding his hand, although she wasn't sure he even knew it was her, and although the guilt was killing her, Faith let the doctors know about Bosco getting sick and then blacking out yesterday, and how she thought maybe he hadn't been feeling well the day before either.  
  
She just told them about how she tried to get him to come in and he refused, convincing her it was just the stomach flu, and she had let him have his way, all the time apologizing for not catching on that it was more serious, and forcing him to come in.  
  
The Doctors really didn't care though, what her feelings were, they just wanted to concentrate on finding out the problem now, and making it better, making HIM better, so they asked her to please step outside so that they could work.  
  
"NO, I am not leaving him" Faith demanded, "He needs me here, you don't understand" she pleaded with them.   
  
"Please Faith, we just need some room here to work, the sooner we can identify the problem, the sooner we can fix it" said one of the nurses, as she gently tried to usher Faith out of the trauma room.  
  
Faith finally relented, and let go of Bosco's hand.   
  
She turned around to leave, but was immediately stopped at the sound of Bosco's voice.  
  
"Faith...don...dont go" Bosco whispered hoarsely, and although, he didn't have much strength, he reached his hand out to find hers.  
  
Faith stood dead still in her tracks, and looked at the doctors.  
  
"Oh All right, just this time," the doctor said, as it was clear that these two had a special bond, whatever that was, and that it was obviously helping Bosco.  
  
Faith quickly walked over to Bosco's hand and grabbed it again, squeezing gently and leaning down to his head so that he could hear her, " I am here Bosco... I am here." 


	24. Chapter 24 Trauma Room

Don't worry- I WILL NOT KILL BOSCO... I could never do that!!!!  
  
Disclaimer:I only can hope and dream NBC would ever let little old me own Bosco and anything to do with the show...maybe its better that way- i would after all have to totrure him some..then some more...and some more...  
  
Chapter 24  
  
Faith grabbed Bosco's hand tighter as he groaned in misery, drifting in and out of consciousness.  
  
The doctors were poking and prodding Bosco, and barking orders at the nurses to run this test and that test, frantically searching for an answer to why this man was barely clinging to life in front of them.  
  
Meanwhile, Bosco was waning, slowly losing his grip on Faith's hand, his sweat covered palm sliding out of her grasp.  
  
He finally let go, his arm falling to the side of the stretcher, catching Faith completely off guard.  
  
She turned quickly to look at Bosco and noticed that he was completely still.  
  
All of a sudden the monitors started to beep loudly signaling a serious change in his condition.  
  
"His BP is falling" one of the nurses shouted out, pushing Faith aside to get to Bosco as the monitor continued to beep away.  
  
Faith just stood there staring in complete shock.  
  
She could not lose her partner...not today...not now..not ever...  
  
"Bosco," Faith called out in a whisper, as she put her head down and closed her eyes, not wanting to see her worst fear come true.  
  
Everywhere around her people were shouting and moving quickly, but it was all a blur to Faith.  
  
All Faith could see and hear was the loud beep of the heart monitor and Bosco's pale, limp body before her, as she stood there in the trauma room, in a cloud of uncertainty watching and praying for Bosco to be all right.  
  
Faith tried to clear her head and focus.  
  
They were saying something about heart rate, and blood pressure, none of which Faith understood anyway.  
  
She saw that Bosco had what looked like a heavy plastic blanket over him, and although she wasn't quite sure what it was, she assumed it couldn't be good.  
  
Faith silently prayed for this nightmare to be over soon, for them to realize what was wrong with him and say that everything was going to be all right.  
  
But that is not what she heard, instead, the desperate, shrill voice of someone yelling, "Get a crash cart, We're losing him! " resonated in her ears as the frantic pace she had been witness to suddenly kicked up a notch and all kinds of monitors went crazy, a shrieking beeping festival of sound that only served the purpose of telling the world that death was not far away.   
  
Faith shuddered, closed her eyes and felt herself sliding to the floor, immense terror and fear taking over her body now, a fear that she had only felt once before, when her husband, Fred was near death from a heart attack.  
  
"CLEAR" Faith heard someone shouted out loud, one of the doctors, of course; they were shocking Bosco's heart.  
  
Faith heard the hard thud of Bosco's lifeless body hit the table after getting shocked and she felt sick.  
  
"Please... Bosco... Please...," Faith whispered as she head "CLEAR" for the second time as the doctors tried to get Bosco back, "I...I need you."  
  
"All of a sudden, the loud beeping and the commotion and the noise died down, and Faith looked up to see everyone at a stand still, looking at something and waiting... 


	25. Chapter 25 Beep Beep Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

Disclaimer: OK so heres to NBC for even starting TW in the first place...oh inspiration...I don't own any of these characters blah blah blah...  
  
Chapter 25  
  
Faith did not understand what was going on until she heard it, the soft beep of the monitor, that she recognized as the heart monitor-from Fred's ordeal- and then she heard the doctor say it "We've got a rhythm."  
  
A wave of relief not only came over Faith but everyone in that trauma room, and for a minute Faith believed all was well again.  
  
But in that split second she felt that, it went away again, as they still were no closer to finding out what was wrong with her partner.  
  
"Get me neurology, and a 10 gauge," were the words from the doctors mouth that snapped Faith back into reality.  
  
Faith knew that something was up and she immediately stood up to get some answers from the doctor.  
  
"What's happening to him? " Faith asked, as the doctor walked over to a sink to wash his hands off.  
  
"Well, he has a dangerously high fever, and that sent his heart into shock, and it started failing, but we got him back," the doctor said.  
  
"We are going to do a spinal tap now, because he is presenting a lot of the signs of meningitis, and if it comes back positive, then he doesn't have much time left before he slips into a coma, and he may not recover neurologically," he continued speaking to Faith as he scrubbed his hands with soap.  
  
Faith's mouth just dropped open, "meningitis? Is he...could he die? How did he get it?" she was thinking out loud, but really hoping the doctor would tell her something.  
  
"Well, we really don't know if that is the case yet but we will know more after we do the tap. We are going to need you to stand back because its a complicated procedure and very painful to the patient."  
  
"Painful?" Faith asked, somewhat confused because Bosco was unconscious, or so she thought, so how could he feel it anyway?  
  
"I thought he was unconscious?" she asked the doctor, not wanting to cause too much trouble, but desperate to know the answers to her fears and concerns.  
  
"Yes well, he is still semiconscious, but with this procedure we often find that the patient wakes up, the pain can be so severe, you see, we inject fluid directly at the base of the spine, and it is complicated and tricky to do that, the needle is so long, it makes it harder." the doctor continued on, "We will, of course numb the area with a general anesthetic, but that doesn't always help too much."  
  
"Oh my God" Faith gasped, "can I stand next to him? He's gonna want me to be there if he knows there is a needle, he's gonna freak out, he hates needles" Faith continued.  
  
"OK well just this time, but if we need you to then you will have to move away," the doctor warned her.  
  
"Sure no problem" Faith responded, as she walked over to Bosco's side again.  
  
The doctor was right, he was semiconscious, his breathing harsh and labored, his eyelids fluttering, trying to open, in true Bosco fashion, he was fighting it still, even now, fighting to be awake, to see what was going on.  
  
"Shhhh Boz close your eyes, be still." Faith said softly, taking his hand in hers again.  
  
As Bosco felt Faith's hand take his, he instantly calmed, relaxing his body and giving up the fight, his breathing becoming more shallow now.   
  
Faith wanted to tell him that it was going to be all right, that it wasn't going to hurt, but she wasn't sure that was true, and she knew that if Bosco heard the word needle, it was all gonna be over.  
  
Faith looked up and saw the doctor preparing the needle.  
  
"Oh Lord" Faith thought to herself as she saw the size of the needle, "please don't let Boz see that or we are all in trouble."  
  
She squeezed Bosco's hand and when she did, not realizing it was too tight, he groaned and took a deep breath and tried to open his eyes.  
  
"No, Bosco No...shhh" Faith quickly tried to stop him from seeing what was going on.  
  
Bosco's eyes were fully open now, the drugs he had been given earlier were making him be able to focus a little more, and he tried to move his head to the side to see what was going on.  
  
"Bosco, close your eyes, relax, everything is gonna be OK" he heard Faith saying as she gently stroked his sweat covered hair back from his forehead, trying to be sly, and shield his eyes at the same time, from seeing that awful needle the doctor held in his hand.  
  
She wasn't slick enough though, as Bosco must have caught sight of the needle.  
  
His eyes instantly opened wide with terror, as he started to take deep ragged breaths of air, and talk at the same time.  
  
"Wh...what is...the...ne... needle..." the words came out broken and shaky, Bosco's voice filled with fear and uncertainty.  
  
Faith tried to calm him down, but the heart monitor started to beep loudly, and she knew that Bosco had seen the needle. 


	26. Chapter 26 Needles and Stuff

ok I am debating making this the second to last chapter and starting a new story all together...or continuing on with this one for like 10 more chapters with some new twists and turns! What do you people reading it say?  
  
I am all all ears...thanks and enjoy...  
  
Disclaimer: NBC owns HIM...I mean the show and ALL of the characters :) I am just borrowing them for now!  
  
FOUND MY MOJO AGAIN...thanks to Jason Wiles...and Boscoslut...  
  
Chapter 26  
  
Bosco was starting to freak out, and it was sending his heart rate up again, as all of the monitors hooked up to his body went crazy.  
  
He turned to Faith and looked up at her with scared, pleading eyes, the sweat starting to form on his face as he continued to get all worked up...  
  
"Shhhh No, Boz its OK, just calm down" Faith said, shielding his view with her body, as she crouched down and tried to get him to turn his attention away from the needle and to her.  
  
Bosco swallowed hard, and Faith grabbed his hand again, this time to find it all clammy and sweaty.  
  
He was shivering, somewhat from fear but also because the fever he had been suffering from was still so high.  
  
The doctor was at Faith's side at that point, and as Bosco saw him approaching, he started to cry out for him to stop.  
  
"NO!!! NO!!! Get ... away from ... me," were the mumbled words out of Bosco's mouth, and he started to thrash his arms about wildly, hitting anything and everything that was in his immediate range.  
  
"Bosco! Bosco stop" Faith shouted at him, as she tried to get him to put his arms down.  
  
It wasn't working though, and as he started to turn his body to the side to escape, he hit Faith clear in the face with his arm, making her stumble back a few steps.  
  
Bosco didn't notice though, because the IV that was attached to his arm suddenly got caught on something and ripped out causing Bosco to scream out in pain, blood trickling down his arm and onto his hospital gown.  
  
"Get me the soft restraints in here now and 5 of Valium", the doctor shouted, as two male nurses, and another doctor approached Bosco and tried to hold him down.  
  
"AHHHHH... GET...AWAY..." Bosco was yelling now, an intense fear and delirium taking over his body and his mind, making him not even realize his actions.  
  
Faith recovered just in time to see two orderlies coming in with what looked like giant handcuffs with cotton all around them.  
  
Bosco was still trying like mad to break free or kick and hit anyone that was coming near him, moaning words that were hardly understandable anymore, the pain and sickness once again consuming him.   
  
He was losing steam fast, his arms were pinned down by the two rather large orderlies and it wasn't as easy for him to move around anymore, although it didn't stop him from trying.  
  
A nurse was about to inject him with Valium into his IV to calm him down, but since he had just ripped it out of his arm, she was going to have to go right into his vein.  
  
As the restraints were being put on Bosco, the nurse went to his right arm and started looking for a vein to use, asking him to please hold still and it would be a lot easier on him and her if he did.  
  
Faith came over to him then, her left cheek sporting a fresh bruise where it had met with the thrashing arm of her partner, and put her face directly into his.  
  
"Boz, if you do not listen to her, you are gonna die," Faith said, the tone of her voice one Bosco knew very well, the 'I am not even kidding you this time' tone.  
  
He took a deep breath in and stopped moving about as much, turning his head to the side, as the tears started to flow down his cheeks.  
  
The tears came, because he was scared, because he was so sick, and because he saw the look on Faith's face, and the bruise, and he remembered that he had done that to her, his partner, his best friend.  
  
Bosco closed his eyes as he saw the nurse approach, and his whole body tensed as he felt the needle go into his vein.  
  
He tried, unsuccesfully to stifle a groan, as he wasnt so much in physical pain, but mental distress at the thought of what was to come.  
  
Try as he might to put it out of his mind, Bosco knew that waiting for him just a few feet away was a not so happy doctor, with a needle the size of freakin Texas, ready to be injected into his body and no doubt cause inexplicable pain. 


	27. Chapter 27 Bosco fights the fear

Chapter 27  
  
As the doctor approached, Faith grabbed onto Bosco's hand.  
  
Bosco let his own hand slide into Faith's, the warm gentle touch of her hand about as soothing to him as any medicine could be right now.  
  
She knew that he wasn't gonna be happy with a huge needle about to be injected into his spine.  
  
But when she looked at Bosco's face, his eyes were still closed and he seemed relaxed, at least for the moment.  
  
The shot of Valium the nurse had just given Bosco must have been starting to work, and Faith was at least happy for that.  
  
"OK lets turn him on his side," the doctor said as the nurses continued to check his vital statistics before going ahead with the procedure.  
  
As soon as Bosco felt the touch of the nurses' hands on his side, his body tensed up, his eyes darted open, and he started to take short ragged breaths again.  
  
It was funny, Faith thought, that Bosco knew without opening his eyes, when it was a stranger touching him, as opposed to her own hand.  
  
A remarkable ability that she too had, to sense the comfort and peace when her partner was there beside her.  
  
She didn't truly realize how much she must really mean to Bosco until this very moment and it made her start to cry again.  
  
'Be strong for Bosco,' she thought, as she tried to stop the tears from flowing, 'he doesn't need me to be a basket case.'  
  
Bosco was starting to get really nervous, as no one had explained anything to him about what they were about to do.  
  
He still felt about as crappy as he had in his whole life, his body was wracked with shivers now.  
  
The nausea and the the pain in his neck and shoulders so was bad, that he was starting to forget what it felt like to feel normal.  
  
The doctor saw that Bosco was somewhat awake so he began to tell Bosco what they were going to do to him.  
  
Faith was not sure this was such a good idea, as she knew what the doctor had told her earlier.  
  
"So, its about 5 inches long, and the needle will enter your spine and..." the words were lost on Bosco, as he stopped listening when he heard the words '5 inch needle' come out of the doctor's mouth.  
  
Bosco started to pray for a blackout or some miracle to relieve him of this nightmare he was about to go through.   
  
He was visibly shaking now and sweating, and he thought he was gonna throw up any moment, the fear in the pit of his stomach overtaking his body and mind.  
  
"Faith" Bosco called out to her in a whisper, as though he couldn't see her, as if he needed to remind himself that she was really there, even though she was standing next to him, holding his hand.  
  
The doctor was still talking to Bosco, explaining the procedure, although Bosco couldn't hear a word he was saying, his mind was too busy trying to find a way out, trying to find someone to save him.  
  
"Boz, everything is gonna be OK, they know what they are doing" Faith chimed in, as she saw the look of sheer terror in her partners eyes, as they darted from her to the doctor, and around the room.  
  
"Faith" Bosco whispered again, as he squeezed her hand tighter with every ounce of strength he had left, and that was not a lot.  
  
Bosco opened his mouth to try and say something to her, but she could not hear.  
  
Faith leaned in closer to him, as she saw him struggling to speak, and turned her head so that her ear was right by Bosco's mouth, "What Bos? What is it?" she asked him?  
  
"Faith...Gonna..be sick..." Bosco barely got the words out before his stomach began to heave, and he turned his head to the side as the contents of his stomach spewed forth from his mouth.  
  
It was only the fluid he had taken in from the IV bags, nothing else, but it came rushing out of him with such force, that it caught Faith off guard, as she jumped back to avoid getting blasted by Bosco puke.  
  
Bosco started to cough and gag, as he was still lying down, somewhat turned to the side, not the most conducive position to be puking your brains out from.  
  
As Bosco started to get sick again, a nurse came up to his side and put a bag in front of him so that he wouldn't get sick all over the floor, instead puking into this oversized brown paper bag.  
  
He had tears streaming down his face, and Bosco had pulled his legs up to his stomach, into the fetal position, as if he were in a lot of pain.  
  
"Officer Boscorelli, you need to like flat on your side so that we can start this" the doctor said, as he motioned to the nurse to help him get in the right position.  
  
The doctor walked over to him and asked him if he thought he was going to be sick anymore, as they really needed to do this test before he became more ill.  
  
Bosco answered a weak, "No" and then put his legs back down as they were before.  
  
The doctor explained that they were testing for meningitis, and if he did actually have it, he could slip into a coma and be dead in a matter of hours, so Bosco really needed to get past his insecurities and let them run this test.  
  
Bosco rolled over on his side, as Faith came back to his side and offered a smile to Bosco, as she grabbed onto his hand again.  
  
He saw the needle in the doctor's hand and closed his eyes and prayed for this to be over with quickly... 


	28. Chapter 28 Needle number One

Chapter 28  
  
oops i posted up without proofreading first- sorry- DUH!!! OK well here it is sorry about any mistakes..   
  
Even though Faith was beside him holding his hand, and even though he was a grown man that should not have this irrational fear of needles, Bosco was still terrified out of his mind.  
  
Maybe it was the pain he knew was imminent, or maybe it had to do with some repressed childhood memory that, at the moment, Bosco was glad he could not remember, but whatever the reason was, he couldn't stop the terrifying feeling of despair running through his body, no matter what he did.  
  
As the doctor approached the table, Bosco kept thinking that he could die if they didn't do the test.  
  
He certainly felt like he was gonna die anyway, the last few days had been hell for him.  
  
"OK I am going to give you a shot to numb the area a little, before we start the procedure, so you may feel a pinch when the needle goes in," the doctor said to Bosco.  
  
Bosco squeezed his eyes shut as tight as they would go and held on to Faith's hand for dear life.  
  
He didn't have much strength, but he sure had enough of something left, because Bosco was gripping Faith's hand so tightly, that her wedding rings were digging into her skin.  
  
As he felt the cold metal tip of the needle touch his skin, Bosco grimaced, waiting for the pain to begin.  
  
It wasn't long, as two seconds later Bosco felt a sharp stabbing, pricking feeling in his spine, like nothing he could have even imagined, as the needle was pushed further and further into him.  
  
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!", Bosco clenched his jaw tightly as he cried out in agony, squeezing Faith's hand tighter and tighter as the needle ripped into him, touching every pain nerve in his weakened body.  
  
"Please... Please ... stop...it hurts, it hurts really bad, "Bosco whimpered as he felt the needle moving around.  
  
'He heard the doctor say that it was just to numb the area so that the actual procedure wouldn't be so bad, but this was bad, worse than any beating or pain Boz had felt before, and he couldn't help but beg them to stop. 


	29. Chapter 29 There's a scared little kid i

OK I am still in conflict over whether or not to continue on-I am sending this little mini chapter out because its all the mojo I could find today- I am going to do some Boz soul searching ;) and then try to give this one the sendoff it deserves with some really good last chapters :)   
  
As Bosco felt the needle slide deeper and deeper into his spine, he silently prayed for the darkness to overtake him, as this could not even get any worse.  
  
He squeezed Faith's hand with all his might as he tried to block out the pain, but it was just too intense.   
  
Every muscle and bone in his body was screaming out for mercy.   
  
He looked at Faith and begged her to make them stop, pleading in a tone that was barely audible, just above a whisper, like a small child crumbling a the hands of a monster.   
  
"Faith....please...make make them stop...it hurts...oh God it hurts so bad" he whispered to her.  
  
"Its all right Bosco, its almost over now, the worst is almost over" Faith said to him in her most comforting tone.  
  
Bosco had a hard time believing her though as the fierce shooting pain that he was feeling in his back was making him dizzy and ready to pass out.  
  
"Owwwww ... please ... nooooo...no more" Bosco moaned as he felt the needle being pulled out of him again.  
  
"OK Officer we are done administering the anesthetic" the doctor announced to Bosco as he finished taking the needle out.  
  
"That should start to work in a few minutes and you wont feel a thing during the procedure."  
  
Bosco just shuddered at the thought of another needle being inserted into his body, whether he could feel it or not.  
  
He was totally exhausted, his body felt like it had been through a damn revolution, with all of the poking and prodding on top of already being really sick.  
  
Bosco closed his eyes.  
  
He sighed.   
  
Maybe he was at least a little relieved that he wouldn't be feeling a thing for this next round.  
  
Faith smiled at him and held his hand.  
  
Bosco looked her in the eyes.  
  
He wanted to speak but the words would not come.  
  
He wanted to thank her for...for being there.  
  
The energy was gone, and Bosco felt his body fall limp, 'I'm sorry Faith I just cant hold on anymore,' he thought as he let the darkness overtake him once again. 


	30. Chapter 30 THE END

CHAPTER 30  
  
OK after being gone for so long, I simply feel that I cannot do this story any real justice by dragging it out.  
  
I never wanted it to go on forever so this will be the final chapter-I hope everyone liked it. Thanks for all of the awesome feedback and reviews.  
  
Faith felt Bosco's hand slip fall limp.  
  
It began to slip from her grasp and she looked over to see him succumbing to the darkness.  
  
She knew that it was partly the anesthetic kicking in but mostly due to mental and physical exhaustion, whatever the reason, she was glad that Bosco wasn't awake for this.  
  
The doctor was talking in the background and Faith looked up to see that he was coming over with the needle to administer the spinal tap.  
  
She prayed that this would solve the mystery as to what was wrong with Bosco.  
  
Almost as hard to watch as the previous needle insertion, Faith turned her head away and looked at Bosco's face.  
  
He was still completely knocked out, not that he would have felt it anyway, and when she turned her head back, they were done.  
  
"All right, we will get this lab work expedited and let you know as soon as the results come in," the Doctor spoke to Faith, as they started to clean up.  
  
About 25 minutes later, the Doctor returned, 2 nurses following and a big smile across his face.  
  
Bosco was still fast asleep, with Faith right beside him.  
  
"We have some good news," he said to Faith, Officer Boscorelli has bacterial meningitis, we are lucky to have found this out now," he continued as a nurse started to inject Bosco's IV with some medication, " just a few more hours and we could have been looking at severe brain damage and coma, possibly even death."  
  
Faith just sat there wide eyed, how the hell did he catch that?   
  
She had a million questions for him, but first she had to know that he was going to be OK.  
  
"We still aren't all in the clear yet, until he wakes up" the Dr. continued, "I am starting him on an aggressive antibiotic combination that will take effect right away, and then we will go from there."  
  
Faith breathed deeply, this was great news, she thought, and he's gonna be OK.  
  
The nurses had finished with the medication and instructed Faith to call them as soon as he started to wake or sooner if there was any problem.  
  
She nodded and thanked them as they headed out of the room.  
  
'My God Bosco, please, please wake up" Faith whispered to him, silently worried that he would sleep forever.  
  
She continued talking to him, stroking his hand, letting him know everything they had just told her, when his eyes fluttered, and he let out an involuntary groan.  
  
Bosco struggled to open his eyes, as the light was very intense, and he was still in a lot of discomfort.  
  
"Faith...you're still here" he managed to whisper to her, as his eyes focused up at her.  
  
"Boz, they found out what was wrong," she said, "I am not going anywhere until I know that you are gonna be OK, abut I think that is a safe bet now."  
  
Bosco forced a weak smile her way, OK, he thought, thank God, his nightmare was over.  
  
As he listened to Faith tell him what was going to happen next and question him as to where he could have picked up such a virus, his mind wandered back to a few days before, when he and Faith stopped to get a hot dog from a street vendor.  
  
"There's nothin better than a street wiener" Bosco had said to her, and she looked at him as if he were crazy.  
  
He smiled at the guy who handed it to him, and said "Enjoy it my man, you never know it could be your last."  
  
Bosco hadn't thought anything of that statement until now, still not sure whether it meant anything or not, and decided to keep it to himself for the meantime.  
  
It was probably just a weird coincidence anyway, he was way too tired to go theorizing about the hows and whys now.  
  
Faith was still talking to him and he closed his eyes again, too tired to stay awake, but looking forward to waking up again with some strength ready to start over.  
  
As he drifted off to sleep he prayed that this was the end...the end... 


End file.
